Supreme Court Approves End to Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan Migrants

The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s ruling and endorsed the Trump administration’s initiative to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for a large number of Venezuelan migrants.

On October 5, the Supreme Court overturned a decision made by the Ninth Circuit in January that stated the Trump administration lacked the authority to revoke President Joe Biden’s TPS policy, which would potentially affect over 500,000 Venezuelans.

The Supreme Court accepted the administration’s petition, issuing a grant, vacate, and remand order that stated, “Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED,” according to reports.

With this decision, the Supreme Court has eliminated the Ninth Circuit’s ruling and sent the case back for further review.

Under Biden, TPS was extended for 268,156 Venezuelans in 2021 and then for an additional 348,202 in 2023. However, Trump directed his administration to end this program, which would make the affected migrants subject to deportation.

A federal judge in San Francisco had blocked the administration in September 2025 from proceeding with the termination. The Supreme Court reversed that lower court’s ruling twice—once in May and again in October.

A separate ruling in November 2025 ended the 2021 designation, but the Ninth Circuit upheld the block earlier this January.

In June, the government won a ruling that maintained TPS laws prohibit courts from reviewing non-constitutional challenges related to the termination of the program. Yet, this was specific to the situations of Haitians and Syrians, not Venezuelans. Consequently, the recent decision concluded that the June ruling also pertains to Venezuelans, asserting that the earlier decision was “clear.”

The ruling notes, “A provision of the TPS statute, 8 U. S. C. §1254a(b)(5)(A), provides… There is no judicial review of any determination of the [Secretary of Homeland Security] with respect to the designation, or termination, or extension of a designation, of a foreign state under this subsection… This text is clear, and its plain meaning is very broad.”

This new characterization of the law as “clear” and “broad” may undermine any attempts to disrupt this part of the president’s immigration policy.