The Supreme Court of the United States on May 19, 2025 granted an emergency stay allowing the Trump administration to move forward with ending TPS protections for approximately 300,000–350,000 Venezuelan nationals in the U.S. The stay lifted a prior injunction issued by Edward Chen, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California, who had blocked the revocation of TPS on the grounds that the administration’s decision appeared arbitrary and possibly racially motivated.

Under the prior extension granted during the previous administration, TPS had allowed Venezuelan nationals designated in 2023 to remain in the U.S. legally and obtain work authorization through October 2026.  The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, in February 2025 issued a notice seeking to terminate the “2023 designation” of Venezuelans under TPS, concluding the country “no longer meets the conditions” for protection.

With the Supreme Court’s stay in place, the Trump administration is enabled to implement the TPS termination while litigation in the lower courts proceeds. The court’s order does not resolve the merits of the case—it leaves open the possibility of future judicial review of documents and protections for certain beneficiaries who received compliant documentation by specific deadlines.

For President Trump, this ruling represents a major legal victory in his administration’s broader campaign to tighten immigration and deportation policies. It reinforces his argument that executive discretion over TPS designations falls squarely within the national‑security and foreign‑policy prerogatives of the executive branch. At the same time, the decision raises significant humanitarian and economic questions, given the large number of affected individuals and communities now facing uncertainty.