Trump DHS Blocks Venezuelans From Renewing Temporary Protections

With a deadline looming for Venezuelan nationals to renew protections for Temporary Protected Status, the Trump administration has blocked them from registering for the protections online.

A San Francisco judge last week ruled that the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of TPS for more than a million Venezuelans was unlawful, restoring relief for several hundred thousand recipients who were already stripped of protections.

Now DHS is is defying a court order by removing Venezuela from a list of TPS designated countries on an online registration portal, said Jessica Bansal, an attorney at the National Day Labor Organizing Network representing the plaintiffs.

The failure to comply with the order and allow them to renew the protections is of significance to TPS recipients as well as anyone seeking to protect their rights in federal court, she said in a Wednesday call with reporters.

Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California scheduled a motion hearing Thursday on the government’s compliance with a Sept. 5 court order granting summary judgment to the TPS plaintiffs. He also denied a government request to stay his Aug. 5 order.

His decision restored protections through October 2026. But they were required to re-register for the program by Sept. 10 under a Biden administration designation.

The TPS program allows foreign nationals without another lawful status to stay in the US for up to 18 months at a time when circumstances like armed conflict make returning to their home country unsafe. The status also comes with eligibility for work permits.

The Trump administration has sought to cancel the protections for hundreds of thousands of people from multiple countries as part of a broader immigration enforcement effort.

Chen in March temporarily blocked DHS from removing protections after he found the terminations were likely unlawful. The Supreme Court though later allowed the agency to go ahead with stripping protections from some 350,000 Venezuelans in response to an emergency request by the Trump administration.

DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

National TPS Alliance is 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, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-01766, motion hearing scheduled 9/10/25.