A United States federal court has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to strip hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) while the case moves forward.
The San Diego, California-based immigrant advocacy group, Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), who, among others, represented the plaintiffs in the case, said US District Court Judge Ed Chen’s ruling protects about 350,000 Venezuelan TPS holders who were set to lose their work authorization on April 3 and deportation protections on April 7.
“As a result, they will instead retain the humanitarian protections while the case proceeds,” Guerline Jozef, HBA’s executive director, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CM).
In his 78-page ruling, Judge Chen ruled that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) action threatens to inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.
“At the same time, the government has failed to identify any real countervailing harm in continuing TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries,” he added.
The judge also sided with plaintiffs in finding that “they will likely succeed in demonstrating that the actions taken by the DHS are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus.”
The coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, Jose Palma, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said that, “in the face of adversity, we stand united.
“Today’s victory is not just a legal win, but a testament to the strength of the TPS community and all who fight alongside us. We will continue this fight with unwavering resolve, not only to protect the future of 350,000 Venezuelans, but to defend all TPS Holders in this country.
“Together, we will ensure that the voices of those who seek safety and opportunity are heard, and that no one is unjustly torn from their families,” Palma said.
A Venezuelan TPS holder and plaintiff who was due to lose her TPS protection in days, who wants to be identified only as M.H., said “my daughter and I rely on TPS to live here.
“Without TPS, I would risk being separated from my husband and young son, both of whom are US citizens. I am beyond elated to know that the judge has granted protection while we continue this fight to protect my family and hundreds of thousands of others.”
HBA said the suit argues that DHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act as DHS failed to follow necessary rules in reaching its decisions.
“Until now, no administration had ever moved to rescind a grant of TPS protection,” Jozef said, adding that the suit also challenges the termination as “unconstitutionally motivated by racial animus.
“DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump have consistently used racist tropes to dehumanize nonwhite immigrants, including in announcing the challenged decisions,” Jozef said, noting that the court order recognised that the DHS’s rationale for terminating TPS for Venezuelans was baseless.
Judge Chen wrote that the DHS’s rationae is entirely lacking in evidentiary support, adding that “for example, there is no evidence that Venezuelan TPS holders are members of the (Tren de Aragua) gang, have connections to the gang, and/or commit crimes.
“Venezuelan TPS holders have lower rates of criminality than the general population. Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes.”
Besides HBA, Jozef said the plaintiffs are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the ACLU Foundations of Northern California and Southern California and the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of Law.
“We are pleased that the court has taken this important step to protect Venezuelan TPS holders pending a final decision,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, faculty co-director of CILP.
“The court’s decision provides a crucial protection against mass deportations for a population that this administration has singled out for extreme vilification.”
Attorney Jessica Bansal, said Venezuelan TPS holders, like all TPS holders, are living and working lawfully in this country pursuant to a humanitarian programme created by Congress 30 years ago.
“Today’s decision to pause the Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to strip them of protection provides them and their families with much-needed relief.”
Emi MacLean, an attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said the court’s ruling “affirms that Secretary Noem breached the boundaries of DHS authority.
“Judge Chen’s decision today recognizes the critical role of TPS, protecting people who cannot safely return to their home countries. This humanitarian protection cannot be stripped away from hundreds of thousands of people for illegitimate pretextual reasons”.
HBA attorney Eric Crew said: this is a win for the rule of law.
“It’s a win for Venezuelan TPS holders, for Haitian TPS holders, and for all people who want to be able to rely on the promises the US makes,” he added.
Last Monday, Judge Chen heard a challenge from a group of Caribbean TPS holders against what they described as the Trump administration’s unlawful termination of TPS humanitarian relief.
Individual Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders are asking the court to Trump’s decision to end protections by April 2, while the case moves through the courts.
HBA warned that 250,000 Venezuelan TPS holders and 500,000 Haitian TPS holders risk losing their protected status this summer as a result of Trump’s actions.
Source-CMC
