Noem Ends Biden Program Shielding Thousands Of Venezuelans From Deportation

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that she was revoking a Biden administration policy that gave thousands of Venezuelan illegal immigrants protection from deportation.

Noem decided to terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for 348,202 Venezuelans living in the U.S. who were given work authorization and shielded from deportation in October 2023. The Department of Homeland Security said conditions had improved in Venezuela and that it was not in America’s interest to maintain the program. 

“TPS has allowed a significant population of inadmissible or illegal aliens without a path to lawful immigration status to settle in the interior of the United States, and the sheer numbers have resulted in associated difficulties in local communities where local resources have been inadequate to meet the demands caused by increased numbers,” a notice from DHS set to be published on Wednesday reads. 

Specifically, the notice said that city shelters, police stations, and aid services were strained to their maximum capacity because of the influx. 

DHS said that the program had been a magnet for illegal immigration as thousands of inadmissible aliens were paroled into the country, and other illegal immigrants were able to obtain protected status and work authorization. 

“President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border. As the Attorney General and DHS have long understood, the potential ‘magnet effect’ of a TPS determination is a permissible factor under the TPS statute, especially with respect to a redesignation,” the memo says. “The same is true for Venezuela.”

DHS also cited the increased presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua across the country as a reason to close off the program. 

Noem determined that Venezuela had seen improvements in the economy, public health, and crime that allowed Venezuelans to be “safely returned to their home country,” the notice says. The recision will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday and take effect 60 days after. 

The decision revokes an extension put in place by previous Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who had ordered the program continue until October 2026. Mayorkas said the extension was based on the “severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crises under the inhumane Maduro regime.”

Noem’s move does not terminate TPS for the approximately 250,000 Venezuelans granted it in 2021. The program will remain in place until September 2025.