Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on Jan. 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security late Tuesday revoked an extension of temporary protective status for nearly 600,000 Venezuelans, according to an unpublished Federal Register document obtained by States Newsroom.
The New York Times first reported on the decision.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, whom the U.S. Senate confirmed to lead the agency on Saturday, canceled the 18-month protections of temporary protected status. A country under TPS is deemed too dangerous to return to due to war, disaster or other unstable conditions.
It means more than 600,000 Venezuelans, who had TPS status renewed until October 2026, due to a last-minute action by former President Joe Biden, will have that extension undone. It comes as President Donald Trump has directed his administration to carry out highly publicized immigration enforcement actions in cities across the United States.
The president has said his administration will conduct mass deportations of undocumented people as well as immigrants let into the country under various legal pathways crafted under the Biden administration, including the TPS extension for Venezuelans.
The decision to revoke the renewal is effective immediately, according to the document.
Because of the instability of the Venezuelan government, those nationals have fled to the U.S. in recent years, with TPS designation in 2021 and an expanded redesignation in 2023, creating two separate filing processes for people from the same country.
Venezuelans who had TPS status in 2023 will have protections until April 2, and Noem will have until Saturday to make a decision to extend protections, according to the document.
Those nationals from Venezuela who had TPS status in 2021 will have protections until Sept. 10, and Noem will have until July 12 to make a decision about renewing the designation, according to the document.
In the document, Noem argued that former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made his decision to renew TPS for Venezuela too early as her reasoning for revoking the extension.
The move is likely to face legal challenges. During the first Trump administration, DHS tried to end TPS for Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Sudan, but the courts blocked those attempts in 2018.
In a statement, Nevada’s Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto argued that DHS did not have the legal authority to revoke the TPS extension for Venezuela.
“The Trump administration does not have the authority to revoke this TPS extension – it’s cruel, misinformed, and illegal,” she said.
Noem noted in her confirmation hearing that she disagreed with the Biden administration’s decision to renew TPS recipients from Venezuela. She criticized the TPS program, and said those countries should have their designation reevaluated.
“This program has been abused and manipulated by the Biden administration, and that will no longer be allowed,” Noem said during her confirmation hearing.
There are currently 17 countries under TPS status – Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.