The Trump administration in a surprising turn of events is terminating a vital immigration program that currently shields hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. from deportation.
This will pave the way for many to lose their legal status this spring according to a government notice obtained by CBS News.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked one of two Temporary Protected Status designations for Venezuela this weekend a decision that has left many reeling.
The U.S. government had previously determined that returning to their homeland was too dangerous for Venezuelans however, this recent action implies a drastic change.
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The Venezuela TPS program is, by far, the largest of its kind, protecting over 600,000 migrants from deportation, as government statistics indicate.
This move by the Trump administration will result in an estimated 350,000 Venezuelans, covered under a 2023 TPS designation, losing their work permits and deportation protections two months after Noem’s decision is published officially.
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Venezuelans enrolled in TPS under an earlier 2021 designation will retain that status through September although, those protections could also be phased out.
Now, a specific group of over 300,000 Venezuelans who entered the TPS program in 2023 find themselves at immediate risk.
Their protections have been stripped and they’ve been given merely 60 days before they could face deportation.
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