The Trump administration announced on Wednesday it will be ending deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is terminating the 2021 designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuela, as announced by the agency. The designation had allowed over 200,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. — including those who entered unlawfully — to remain largely without risk of removal.
Following consultation with the State Department and a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) review of the conditions in the South American country, Noem determined that Venezuela no longer met the TPS requirements, according to DHS. Additionally, the DHS secretary determined that maintaining the 2021 designation was not in the best interest of the U.S.
“Given Venezuela’s substantial role in driving irregular migration and the clear magnet effect created by Temporary Protected Status, maintaining or expanding TPS for Venezuelan nationals directly undermines the Trump Administration’s efforts to secure our southern border and manage migration effectively,” a DHS spokesperson said in a public statement.
“Weighing public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest,” the spokesperson continued.
A federal authority first established in the Immigration Act of 1990, TPS grants sweeping deportation protections and work eligibility to foreign nationals residing in the U.S., including illegal migrants, whose home countries are experiencing any number of conflicts or devastating natural disasters, making it potentially dangerous for them to return, as stipulated by USCIS.
The Biden administration — which oversaw record levels of illegal immigration — repeatedly doled out and extended TPS designations for various countries, including Venezuela.
A major critique of TPS is that it is “temporary” in name only, with countries enjoying re-designations throughout the decades. Hondurans and Nicaraguans, for example, have enjoyed TPS since 1999 — although the Trump administration notched a major victory in August when a federal appeals court allowed DHS to move forward in ending this deportation protection for Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal.
“TPS was never meant to be a de facto asylum system, yet that is how previous administrations have used it for decades while allowing hundreds of thousands of foreigners into the country without proper vetting,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a previous public statement.
After returning to the White House, President Donald Trump immediately worked to end TPS for other nations, such as Haiti and Ukraine. The moves are largely in line with the administration’s efforts to tighten immigration enforcement across the country.
DHS stated Wednesday that it will allow the TPS designation to expire on Sept. 10. The Trump administration is encouraging Venezuelan nationals leaving the U.S. to use the CBP Home app to declare their departure, and to take advantage of a complimentary plane ticket and $1,000 exit bonus.
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