Reprieve for Venezuelan TPS holders but many others still in limbo
- On Monday, a federal judge in California paused the Trump administration’s plan to end protections for 350,000 Venezuelans, allowing them to remain in the US with valid work authorization while the case continues to be litigated. The Trump Administration had moved quickly to end protections for Venezuelans and Haitians with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a humanitarian protection granted to individuals from specific countries to which individuals cannot be safely returned due to armed conflict or a natural disaster. Massachusetts is home to more than 35,000 TPS holders, including an estimated 10,000-15,000 Haitians.
- The Administration had previously announced it was revoking an 18 month extension of TPS protections for some Venezuelans (those who had qualified under the 2023 designation), meaning that they would be left with no protection as of April 7. It had also announced that TPS protections for Haitians would end on August 3, a full six months earlier than originally planned. Monday’s court decision provides at least a temporary reprieve for Venezuelan TPS holders. A federal court in Boston also heard arguments this Tuesday in a case challenging the end of TPS protections for Venezuelans and Haitians, but declined to take action given the recent decision from California. The judge in the California case is expected to also rule on whether the termination of TPS for Haitians should be paused pending the litigation.
- Also this week, hundreds of thousands of individuals who had entered the US through the CHNV program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans with a financial sponsor, received notices from USCIS informing them that their parole status and work authorization would be terminated as of April 24. If allowed to take effect, this termination would strip more than 500,000 individuals of deportation protections and work authorization. These notices- which encouraged recipients to make plans to leave the country- created a lot of confusion and anxiety. Lawsuits have been filed challenging this termination and hearings are scheduled for next week after which a decision could place this termination on hold.
- A lawsuit was filed this past Monday challenging the Administration’s plans to invoke a dormant and antiquated law that would require all noncitizens to “register” and be fingerprinted by the federal government. The registration requirement is currently scheduled to take effect on April 11, so stay tuned for updates!
- The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has paused processing of all green card applications filed by individuals who currently have refugee status or have been granted asylum to allow for additional vetting of individuals. This comes on top of the previously announced pause on processing of any application (including TPS, asylum, and green cards) for individuals who entered the US through the CHNV or Uniting for Ukraine parole programs.
- In late March, we learned that the Federal administration was cutting funding for legal services for children facing deportation, leaving 26,000 children without legal assistance, including hundreds in Massachusetts. This week, a federal judge ordered that the funding be reinstated but it is unclear how service providers will be able to maintain these crucial services when faced with so much financial uncertainty.