Saturday, August 30, 2025

Pasadena Panel Blocks Trump Administration’s Bid to Deport Venezuelans

CITY NEWS SERVICE

A federal appeals court in Pasadena Friday blocked the Trump administration from canceling the temporary protected status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States, including a community in the Southland, who contend they are unable to safely return to their home country.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that maintained protections for Venezuelans while the case proceeds through court.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attempted to end the protections just days after taking office in January. However, a federal district court put her decision on hold pending a final resolution in the case, finding that the secretary’s decision appeared to be motivated by racial bias toward Venezuelans and violated the law governing temporary protections.

On Friday, the 9th Circuit denied the administration’s appeal of U.S. District Judge Ed Chen’s March ruling that found the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their claims. Chen’s decision blocked the government’s attempt to strip Venezuelan migrants of their lawful immigration status.

According to the appellate opinion, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) statute is designed to create “predictable periods of safety and legal status for TPS beneficiaries. Sudden reversals of prior decisions contravene the statute’s plain language and purpose. Here, hundreds of thousands of people have been stripped of status and plunged into uncertainty.

“The stability of TPS has been replaced by fears of family separation, detention, and deportation. Congress did not contemplate this, and the ongoing irreparable harm to Plaintiffs warrants a remedy pending a final adjudication on the merits.”

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the government’s request for an emergency stay of Chen’s ruling pending appeal.

Ahilan Arulanantham of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law previously said Chen’s ruling was a “detailed, well- reasoned order (that) allows the Venezuelan community to continue living and working in this country while the case moves forward.”

The lawsuit in which the National TPS Alliance and seven Venezuelans accuse Noem of illegally revoking an 18-month extension of TPS for Venezuelans that was granted by the Biden administration was filed in February in San Francisco federal court.

After Chen blocked the government’s attempt to deport Venezuelan migrants, saying the administration’s move “smacks of racism,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted the decision.

“This is yet another example of an activist judge trying to obstruct President Trump’s agenda,” McLaughlin said in a statement previously provided to City News Service. “This unelected judge didn’t get the memo that on Nov. 5, the American people voted for re-instituting integrity in our immigration enforcement and mass deportations of illegal aliens.

“Secretary Noem will continue fighting to return integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades. We will return TPS to its original status: temporary,” the statement said.