The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Trump administration to revoke the legal protections of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants
President Joe Biden, at the end of his term, extended the deadlines of about 350,000 Venezuelans with temporary protected status so they could remain and work in the United States legally. That includes many in Massachusetts. Trump officials, seeking to reverse that decision, asked the court to approve an emergency application. The court issued its brief order on Monday, allowing the administration to move forward.
“This is the single largest action in modern American history stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer representing Venezuelan plaintiffs in the California case. “That the Supreme Court authorized this in a two-paragraph order with no reasoning is just truly shocking.”
There is nothing in the Supreme Court’s order that provides any delay in its implementation, meaning federal immigration authorities could immediately find effected Venezuelans and initiate deportation proceedings because of their legal status.
Experts said that a small chunk of those hundreds of thousands of people could have applied successfully for asylum and other statuses, but the majority who didn’t apply for other legal relief could now be considered deportable.
Litigation will continue in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and district courts.
“The setback in the Supreme Court today will not deter us. The Trump administration will not stop us,” said José Palma, coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, who is based in Massachusetts. “The United States made a commitment to our protection, and we will hold this Administration to it. We will continue to make our case in court and in the court of public opinion.”
The Biden administration in 2021 said Venezuelans would be eligible for temporary protected status due to political instability in the country. In October 2023, a designation for TPS was made for a certain group of about 350,000 Venezuelans, and extended in January 2025, granting an extension to October 2026.
TPS has existed since 1990 and allows people from certain countries to get work authorization for 18 months and live in the U.S. legally, with the potential for extensions.
In February, the Department of Homeland Security moved to make TPS expire for Venezuelans this spring instead. This was blocked by U.S. District of California Judge Edward Chen due to concerns of illegal and racist “animus” toward immigrants, in a stay. The circuit court refused to put a hold on Chen’s order while the lawsuit proceeds.
The Supreme Court lifted Chen’s March stay, allowing for potential deportations to occur. This means that while the Ninth Circuit hears arguments and decides upon on the 18-month extension, many of the immigrants could be put into removal proceedings and deported from the country.
The Supreme Court made this decision in one of several cases related to temporary protected status. In Massachusetts, local Haitians and Venezuelans continue to sue the president in federal court here over the termination of their TPS.
That suit is brought on behalf of three immigrant advocacy organizations — Haitians Americans United Inc., Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts and UndocuBlack Network — as well as several affected individuals from Venezuela and Haiti.
“I’m a little sad and very worried too — I’ve only seen the news and haven’t read the decision. I don’t know if it’s with immediate effect of it or the consequences we will see,” said Gustavo Doe, one of those individuals, told GBH News on Monday in Spanish. GBH News is using a pseudonym due to his fears of deportation.
Gustavo Doe arrived from Venezuela in 2023 after facing threats due to his opposition to government corruption there.
Shortly after, he was in a car accident that left him nearly deaf and needing a wheelchair. Under his temporary protected status, he has been able to obtain health insurance that covers medical procedures related to the accident. His mother, also a TPS holder, cares for him in Massachusetts.
Doe said the medical system in Venezuela has collapsed, and there isn’t the technology or the medical supplies to get the help he needs.
He’s hoping his asylum application can protect him, even temporarily, from being removed from the country.
“I hope this potential protection can help me to keep working legally here,” he said.
There is also concern that the Supreme Court’s decision will have implications for the same local case that includes Haitian TPS holders.
“It does predict what the Supreme Court would say if there was a stay for the Haiti one as well,” said Mirian Albert, senior attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, which is representing the plaintiffs. “In essence, they’re saying you can continue the litigation, but you can’t prevent the administration from implementing these actions in the meantime.”
For the California-based federal court, the next hearing is on May 29. For the Massachusetts case, no hearings are scheduled and attorneys are working on a briefing for the motion to dismiss filed by the government. The appeals court hearing will be the week of July 11.
