Ninth Circuit Denies DHS Bid to Halt Restored Migrant Relief (1)

The Trump administration’s request to suspend renewed protections for Venezuelan immigrants was rejected by a federal appellate panel.

More than half a million Venezuelans will continue to be covered by Temporary Protected Status while an appeal proceeds.

The government was unlikely to prevail with claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, a panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found Wednesday. It also provided no evidence of irreparable harm from a stay on removing protections.

A San Francisco federal district court ruled Sept. 5 that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s cancellation of a TPS designation was unlawful in an order granting summary judgment to plaintiffs challenging the decision. Judge Edward M. Chen’s order restored TPS protections for 350,000 Venezuelans that the US Supreme Court had allowed DHS to remove while the litigation was ongoing.

The TPS program allows immigrants from designated countries to remain in the US with legal work authorization for up to 18 months at a time when conditions like armed conflict prevent a safe return home. The Trump administration has made dismantling the program a signature piece of its immigration agenda.

Chen’s order restored TPS protections for Venezuelans until at least October 2026.

The Trump administration had argued that the May 19 Supreme Court order voiding preliminary relief for plaintiffs should also control the outcome of its latest stay motion. The Ninth Circuit decision Wednesday “is nothing short of open defiance against the US Supreme Court,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.

“The judges who made this decision should be ashamed of themselves, as the Court already granted us an 8-1 victory on this issue,” she said. “Luckily for us, and for all Americans, the Ninth Circuit is not the last stop.”

But the panel found that those arguments ignored the actual text of the justices’ order and the reality that discovery had produced a more fully developed record. The Supreme Court’s order also came with no explanation and was limited to a March 31 stay granted by Chen, it added.

The subsequent administrative record revealed a “barebones process” that followed none of the normal procedures at DHS for a decision on TPS designations, the panel found.

“Indeed, the district court found that the reasons given for the Secretary’s decision were entirely pretextual. The district court found that DHS made its vacatur and termination decisions first and searched for a valid basis for those decisions second,” the order said.

The Ninth Circuit panel included Kim Wardlaw, a Clinton appointee, along with Anthony Johnstone and Salvador Mendoza Jr., both Biden appointees.

Plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and University of Los Angeles School of Law’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy.

DHS is represented by the Department of Justice.

The case is National TPS Alliance v. Noem, 9th Cir., No. 25-5724, stay denied 9/17/25.