Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday that the Trump administration has revoked a decision that would have shielded approximately 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation, reversing a last-minute policy move by the Biden administration.
Noem criticized her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, for extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the final days of the Biden presidency.
“Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are on temporary protected status, which meant that they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months. We stopped that.”
Kristi Noem
The policy change takes effect immediately. A six-page notice from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states that the new decision restores the previous TPS expiration date of April 2025, rolling back the Biden administration’s extension to October 2026.
The Biden administration had also granted TPS extensions to over 230,000 Salvadorans, 103,000 Ukrainians, and 1,900 Sudanese. However, Noem did not clarify whether similar reversals would apply to these groups, and the DHS notice specifically addresses Venezuelans.
TPS grants temporary legal status to individuals from countries experiencing war, natural disasters, or other crises, allowing them to live and work in the US While it does not provide a pathway to citizenship, many beneficiaries have remained in the country for years through repeated extensions.
Critics argue that TPS protections often become indefinite, regardless of whether conditions improve in the home country.
The decision to revoke the extension means that Venezuelans under TPS could now face deportation. However, logistical challenges remain, as the US has no formal diplomatic relations with Venezuela, limiting deportation options.
Other countries, such as Cuba and Nicaragua, also do not accept deportees, but Noem suggested that President Trump would take a hardline approach.“[Trump] clearly will exercise all the authority and power that he has to make these countries take them back,” she stated.
TPS was originally established by Congress in 1990 as a humanitarian measure, allowing people to remain in the US for up to 18 months at a time if their home countries were deemed unsafe.
Currently, about 1 million people from 17 nations — including Haiti, Honduras, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, and Lebanon — are protected under the program. Venezuelans are among the largest groups of TPS recipients.
During his first term, Trump sought to limit TPS designations, arguing that the program was being misused as a backdoor to long-term residency. While federal regulations allow early termination of TPS extensions, such actions have been rare.
Brazil Responds to Deportation Concerns
The shift in US immigration policy has already triggered international reactions. In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has approved the creation of a reception center for deported migrants following concerns over the treatment of Brazilian nationals on a recent deportation flight from the US
Brazil’s Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship, Macaé Evaristo, confirmed that a humanitarian reception post will be established in Confins, a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais.
The move comes after a US deportation flight carrying 88 Brazilians landed in Brazil over the weekend. Reports indicate that passengers were kept handcuffed even after an unscheduled stop in Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, due to technical issues with the aircraft.
A Brazilian military plane later transported the deportees to Belo Horizonte, their final destination. The incident has sparked diplomatic tensions, with Brazil’s Foreign Ministry demanding explanations from Washington regarding what it described as “degrading treatment” of its citizens.
In a statement, the ministry cited “the use of handcuffs and chains, the poor condition of the aircraft, with a broken air conditioning system, among other problems.”
As the Trump administration moves forward with its immigration agenda, the revocation of TPS protections and the handling of deportations are likely to remain contentious issues both domestically and abroad.
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