Federal court rules Noem terminating temporary protected status for Venezuelans in US was illegal

A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem acted unlawfully when she ended legal protections allowing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to live and work in the United States.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that found she exceeded her authority when she ended temporary protected status (TPS) for Venezuelans under the Biden-era Venezuela TPS designations, according to The Associated Press. All three judges on the panel were nominated by Democratic presidents.

The ruling comes as the Trump administration has argued that TPS for Venezuela created a "magnet effect" for illegal migration and undermined border enforcement. TPS shields eligible migrants from deportation and allows them to work legally in the United States while conditions in their home country are deemed unsafe. 

The panel also upheld the lower court’s finding that Noem exceeded her authority when she moved to end TPS early for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti.

TRUMP ADMIN ENDS TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR BURMESE MIGRANTS

The judges ruled that the TPS legislation passed by Congress did not give the secretary the power to vacate an existing TPS designation.

"The statute contains numerous procedural safeguards that ensure individuals with TPS enjoy predictability and stability during periods of extraordinary and temporary conditions in their home country," Ninth Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, wrote for the panel.

Wardlaw said Noem’s "unlawful actions have had real and significant consequences" for Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States who rely on TPS.

"The record is replete with examples of hard-working, contributing members of society — who are mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and partners of U.S. citizens, pay taxes, and have no criminal records — who have been deported or detained after losing their TPS," she wrote.

The decision, however, will not have any immediate practical effect after the U.S. Supreme Court in October allowed Noem’s decision to take effect pending a final decision by the justices.

Fox News Digital contacted DHS for comment.

DHS TERMINATES TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR AROUND 76K HONDURAN, NICARAGUAN MIGRANTS

Noem’s termination meant that 268,156 Venezuelan nationals currently in the U.S. lost their status and were no longer legally allowed to reside in the United States, according to figures shared with Fox News Digital from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The TPS designation expired on Sept. 10, 2025, with termination effective 60 days after the publication of the Federal Register notice. The Federal Register notice set the termination’s effective date as Nov. 7, 2025.

In September, 3,738 pending initial applications that were to be eligible for TPS and 102,935 pending renewal applications were also terminated.

"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 told Fox News Digital in September.

"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 added.

The agency also announced in November that approximately 353,000 Haitian nationals currently holding TPS will see their protections expire in February.

Ninth Circuit Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. wrote separately that there was "ample evidence of racial and national origin animus" that reinforced the lower court’s conclusion that Noem’s decisions were "preordained and her reasoning pretextual."

"It is clear that the Secretary’s vacatur actions were not actually grounded in substantive policy considerations or genuine differences with respect to the prior administration’s TPS procedures, but were instead rooted in a stereotype-based diagnosis of immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti as dangerous criminals or mentally unwell," he wrote.

Fox News' Preston Mizell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.