The Trump administration asked a federal appeals court in Pasadena Wednesday to overturn a lower court’s order preserving Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants, including a Culver City woman, who contend they are unable to safely return to Venezuela.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attempted to end the protections just days after taking office in January. However, a federal district court put her decision on hold pending a final resolution in the case, finding that the secretary’s decision appeared to be motivated by racial bias toward Venezuelans and violated the law governing TPS.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday in the administration’s appeal of U.S. District Judge Ed Chen’s ruling in March blocking the government’s attempt to strip Venezuelan migrants of their lawful immigration status.
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed Chen’s ruling pending the appeal.
It was not known when the 9th Circuit panel would issue its ruling.
Ahilan Arulanantham of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law previously said Chen’s ruling was a “detailed, well-reasoned order (that) allows the Venezuelan community to continue living and working in this country while the case moves forward.”
The lawsuit in which the National TPS Alliance and seven Venezuelans accuse Noem of illegally revoking an 18-month extension of TPS for Venezuelans that was granted by the Biden administration was filed in February in San Francisco federal court.
After Chen blocked the government’s attempt to deport Venezuelan migrants, saying the administration’s move “smacks of racism,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted the decision.
“This is yet another example of an activist judge trying to obstruct President Trump’s agenda,” McLaughlin said in a statement sent to City News Service. “This unelected judge didn’t get the memo that on Nov. 5, the American people voted for re-instituting integrity in our immigration enforcement and mass deportations of illegal aliens.
“Secretary Noem will continue fighting to return integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades. We will return TPS to its original status: temporary,” the statement continued.