The Trump Administration has taken decisive action to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for over 600,000 Venezuelan migrants residing in the United States.
This significant policy shift was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday morning.
According to The New York Post, Secretary Noem criticized her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, for imposing restrictions on the Trump Administration by granting a large number of Venezuelan migrants TPS, allowing them to "stay here and violate the laws" for an additional 18 months. Noem declared, "We fought that today. We signed an executive order within the Department of Homeland Security that we are not going to follow through on what they did to tie our hands," during an appearance on Fox News.
The newly issued order empowers federal agents to assess the status of individuals in the country, including Venezuelans and members of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang. Noem, aged 53, shared her experiences from participating in the initial raids in New York City since the Trump Administration's renewed crackdown. She recounted how residents expressed gratitude to federal agents for apprehending criminal aliens, stating, "The people of this country want these debates out. They want their communities to be safe. It was so amazing to me to see people walk by us on the street early morning and just say thank you, thank you for being here."
The Biden Administration had previously extended TPS for Venezuelan migrants, allowing them an additional 18 months to obtain work permits. This extension was granted shortly before Trump's return to the White House. The existing TPS extensions are set to expire in April, and Noem must decide by Saturday whether to allow them to lapse or renew them for another six months, as reported by The New York Times.
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