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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signed a notice reversing a move by her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in the waning days of the Biden administration to extend Temporary Protected Status.
“Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are on Temporary Protected Status, which meant that they were going to be able to stay here for another 18 months,” Noem told “Fox and Friends.”
Under the Biden administration extension, protections for Venezuelans were extended until October 2026. That now reverts to two separate designations — one that expires this April and one in September.
Venezuelans would lose their ability to work in the U.S. and be at risk of being deported.
Federal regulations allow the extensions to be terminated early, though that’s rarely been done, and groups sued when Trump took steps to end the protections during his first term.
Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to work in increments of up to 18 months at a time.
About 1 million immigrants from 17 countries are protected by TPS, including people from Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon. Venezuelans are one of the largest beneficiaries.
The TPS designation gives people legal authority to be in the country but doesn’t provide a long-term path to citizenship. They are reliant on the government renewing their status when it expires.