WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Trump administration the green light to revoke special legal protections for thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, which could pave the way for them to be deported.
The high court granted an emergency application filed by the administration, meaning officials can move forward with reversing a decision made at the tail end of the Biden administration to extend protections for almost 350,000 Venezuelans under the federal Temporary Protected Status program.
The brief order noted that liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the application. Litigation will now continue in lower courts.
“This is the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, one of the lawyers representing Venezuelan plaintiffs in the case.
It was “truly shocking” that the Supreme Court authorized the move without giving the case more consideration, he added.
As a result of political instability in Venezuela, the Biden administration in March 2021 said Venezuelans were eligible for temporary protected status under the federal program that has existed since 1990 to provide humanitarian relief to people from countries reeling from war, natural disasters or other catastrophes.
People accepted into the program have legal status in the