Appeals Court Rules Noem Acted Illegally in Ending Venezuelans’ Protected Status
A federal appeals court has ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acted illegally when she ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan migrants, a decision with wide implications for hundreds of thousands of people living and working in the United States.
The ruling, issued Wednesday by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, found that Noem exceeded her statutory authority when she attempted to vacate and terminate Venezuela’s TPS designation that had been scheduled to last through October 2026 under the prior extension.
The panel upheld a lower court’s decision, saying the TPS statute does not grant the Homeland Security secretary the power to vacate an existing designation early. The judges noted that Congress designed TPS to provide stability during extraordinary conditions and that Noem’s actions contradicted the statute’s plain language.
The ruling also touched on similar actions regarding Haitian TPS, agreeing that the partial vacatur there was also unlawful.
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“The statute contains numerous procedural safeguards that ensure individuals with TPS enjoy predictability and stability…” said Judge Kim Wardlaw, highlighting the statutory limits on the secretary’s power.
The Department of Homeland Security responded critically, calling the appeals court’s decision “a lawless and activist order from the federal judiciary.”
However, the ruling won’t immediately reinstate protections for Venezuelans because the U.S. Supreme Court previously allowed Noem’s termination order to take effect while the legal battle continues.
The decision matters as a legal precedent on the scope of executive authority over humanitarian protections and comes amid ongoing litigation over TPS policy. Next up, the Supreme Court could decide whether to take up the case for final review, and separate federal challenges over Haitian TPS are unfolding. The status of migrants with lapsed protections remains in flux.
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