Trump admin paves way for mass deportation of Venezuelans
January 29, 2025
US President Donald Trump's administration has revoked a decision that would protect some 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday.
Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, had ordered an extension of the deportation relief from April 2025 to October 2026.
What do we know about the Trump administration's plan to deport Venezuelans?
Noem told the Fox News broadcaster that she had rescinded the Biden administration's extension, which also gave Venezuelans access to work permits through the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.
Trump had already attempted to block the program during his first term in 2017-2021, but the move was stymied by federal courts.
On Wednesday, Noem said she was working with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to find ways to deport Venezuelans and migrants from other countries that limit the number of deportees they accept.
She said that Washington was evaluating the possibility of sending migrants to the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The area houses a migrant camp that had at times been used by the US to house Haitians and Cubans picked up at sea. The facility is separate from the Guantanamo Bay military prison for alleged terrorism suspects, many without formal charges.
What is the Temporary Protected Status program?
TPS is available to people from countries experiencing extraordinary events such as natural disasters and armed conflicts. Biden's administration had expanded the program, which now covers over 1 million people from 17 countries.
Biden's administration cited "severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crises under the inhumane Maduro regime" as the reason for the extension in TPS status for Venezuelans.
During his 2024 campaign for president, Trump promised to significantly curtail immigration and strengthen border controls.
On the first day of his second term, the newly elected president ordered a review of TPS designations through an executive order titled "Protecting American People Against Invasion."
On Saturday, Brazil condemned the US government after dozens of deportees arrived on a plane in handcuffs.
sdi/jcg (AP, Reuters, EFE)