Topline
The Trump Administration has requested the Supreme Court help it remove temporary protected status for over 300,000 Venezuelans, asking the high court Thursday to put on hold a lower court’s ruling that stopped it from terminating the migrant protections last month.
The Trump administration filed the request Thursday. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
Key Facts
The Trump administration made the request after District Judge Edward M. Chen temporarily blocked Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from rescinding Biden-era TPS extensions for Venezuelans, which she attempted to do in February.
The migrants would have lost their protections on April 7 had Chen not intervened, but the Trump administration is hoping the Supreme Court will step in, hold Chen’s order and allow it to remove the protections as it cracks down on immigration.
Solicitor General John Sauer said in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court that Chen’s order means Noem must allow Venezuelan nationals to remain in the U.S., “notwithstanding her reasoned determination that doing so is ‘contrary to the national interest,’” according to CBS News.
The request to the Supreme Court comes about two weeks after the Trump administration asked the same of a federal appeals court, which declined its attempt to hold Chen’s order.
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Key Background
Noem rescinded temporary protected status for some 300,000 Venezuelans in February, claiming conditions in their home country, which is experiencing economic collapse and political unrest, did not justify the status. Temporary protected status is given to nationals of countries facing military conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary circumstances. Chen temporarily blocked the rescissions, accused Noem of making “sweeping generalizations” about Venezuelans and said her actions appeared “predicated on negative stereotypes casting class-wide aspersions on their character.” The Trump administration, which deported some 250 Venezuelans to El Salvador in March and is still fighting legal battles over the matter, has gone to the Supreme Court multiple times this year as it looks to crack down on illegal immigration and migrant protections. The court has ruled against the administration on multiple occasions and recently blocked the administration on a temporary basis from removing further Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which can be invoked when there is a declared war or an “invasion of predatory incursion” conducted by a foreign nation against the U.S. The court also ordered the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador with no due process despite having a legal protection from deportation.
Tangent
A Texas-based federal judge Thursday indefinitely blocked the Trump administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, issuing a permanent injunction and writing Trump’s invocation of the act “makes no reference to and in no manner suggests that a threat exists of an organized, armed group of individuals entering the United States at the direction of Venezuela to conquer the country or assume control over a portion of the nation.”
Further Reading
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration From Removing Venezuelan Migrant Protections (Forbes)
Trump’s New Defense For Violating Immigration Orders: A Different Agency Did It (Forbes)
