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WASHINGTON – Venezuelans with temporary legal protections have sued the Trump administration over a decision to remove around 350,000 immigrants by April 7th.
Temporary protected status allows people to legally reside and work in the United States if they are facing conditions that prevent them from returning to their safe homeland. The loss of TPS means that Venezuelan immigrants could face deportation.
The complaint was filed Wednesday night in San Francisco by the National TPS Alliance and eight Venezuelans in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit accuss Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem of illegally revoking the 18-month extension of 18-month protections granted by the Biden administration shortly before President Biden resigned.
Another 250,000 Venezuelans are expected to lose protection in September.
The plaintiff’s lawyers said the Trump administration’s move to withdraw the extension is unprecedented. Since Congress established itself in 1990, the administration has never ended its protection early. The lawsuit alleges that the administration violated federal law because the Administrative Procedure Act does not allow for early termination and requires a period of review.
The lawsuit also alleges that the dismissal was motivated by racial animus against Venezuelans. Jessica Bansal, an attorney for the Los Angeles-based National Day Day Workers Organization Network, pointed to Noem’s appearance on Fox News and explained the decision to end, during which she said: I’ve said that. They want the community to be safe. ”
On last year’s campaign trail, the theme reverberated by executive officials as President Trump repeatedly characterised immigrants as dangerous and threatening.
“All the languages are really loaded,” Bansal said.
“If you look at case law, it’s something that the linguistic courts have decided to clearly show racial animus,” she said.
The plaintiffs are also represented by the ACLU Foundation in Northern and Southern California and the UCLA Law Center for Immigration Law and Policy.
Hendrina Vivas Castillo, 49, is one of the nominated plaintiffs. Vivas Castillo, who lives in Culver City, said he enrolled in the US on a tourist visa because he knew there were legal protections under the TPS. She currently works as a food delivery driver, but her license is set to expire two months after protection ends.
“My worries started the first moment they realised they were cancelling our TPS,” she said. “What are you going to do here? I hope this lawsuit helps the Venezuelans.”
Venezuelans are one group among hundreds of thousands of people who have benefited from the legal immigration routes that Trump has stopped since Trump took office last month.
“These three regimes in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba are the enemies of humanity and created an immigration crisis,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this month.
Trump ordered a review of all 17 TPS-designated countries, with legal experts saying the same justification for Venezuela’s firing could be applied to other countries that benefit.
The move to end TPS protections for some Venezuelans represents a reversal of Trump. Shortly before resigning in 2021, he provided similar immigration benefits to certain Venezuelans protecting them from deportation, calling the situation in Venezuela “the worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory in the Western Hemisphere.”
In a federal registration notice indicating his dismissal, Noem said Venezuela has experienced “notable improvements in several areas, including the economy, public health and crime,” and gang members of Tren de Aragua were admitted. He writes that he is one of the Venezuelans who were allowed to do so. We
The firing caused some division among Republicans. In a letter to Noem this month, Rep. Mario Diaz Barato (R-FLA.) said, “That Venezuelan citizens with no criminal history will not be forced back to one of the world’s most oppressive dictatorships. urged to assure him.”
During his first presidency, Trump ended the TPS with 95% of those who had it, including those in El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Nepal and Honduras. These terminations stopped in court, and when Biden took office, he reversed the course and expanded protections to include people in additional countries, including Venezuela.
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