A federal judge prevented the Trump administration from invalidating work permits and other documents granting lawful status to about 5,000 Venezuelans, a subset of the nearly 350,000 whose temporary legal protections the US Supreme Court last week allowed to be terminated.

US District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco in a Friday night ruling, concluded that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem likely exceeded her authority when she in February invalidated those documents while more broadly ending the temporary protected status granted to the Venezuelans.

The US Supreme Court on May 19 lifted an earlier order Chen issued that prevented the administration as part of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda from terminating deportation protection conferred to Venezuelans under the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, program.

But the high court stated specifically it was not preventing any Venezuelans from still challenging Noem’s related decision to invalidate documents they were issued pursuant to that program that allowed them to work and live in the United States.

Such documents were issued after the US Department of Homeland Security during former Democratic President Joe Biden’s final days in office extended the TPS program for the Venezuelans by 18 months to October 2026, an action Noem sought to reverse.

But the high court stated specifically it was not preventing any Venezuelans from still challenging Noem’s related decision to invalidate documents they were issued pursuant to that program that allowed them to work and live in the United States.

Read more

Trump to revoke legal status for 240,000 Ukrainians as US steps up deportations

Trump prosecutor Jack Smith resigns from Department of Justice

New immigration rules in Canada could lead to mass exits

Such documents were issued after the US Department of Homeland Security during former Democratic President Joe Biden’s final days in office extended the TPS program for the Venezuelans by 18 months to October 2026, an action Noem sought to reverse.