Donald Trump has revoked deportation protections for over 600,000 Venezuelan migrants.
The revocation was confirmed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in an interview on Wednesday morning.
The order rescinds a previous order from Joe Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, that extended the protections for a further 18 months.
“Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months, they were going to extend protection to people on Temporary Protected Status, which meant they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months,” Noem said. “We stopped that.”
“We are going to follow the process, evaluate all of these individuals that are in our country, including the Venezuelans that are here,” she continued.
Watch the clip below:
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has confirmed that the Trump administration has revoked Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over half a million Venezuelan migrants residing in the United States. pic.twitter.com/i8KJpB65ru
— Ben Kew (@ben_kew) January 29, 2025
As of December 2024, there were over 600,00 Venezuelan migrants benefitting from TPS, although estimates vary.
Noem added that they remain in active discussions with other countries, and “the President clearly will exercise all the authority and power that he has to make these countries take them back.”
She was also asked about whether the administration was open to using the Guantanamo Bay center in Cuba as a possible detention site.
“We’re evaluating and talking about that right now,” she responded.
”So – President’s decision, but it’s an asset, and we’re going to continue to look at how we can use all of our assets to keep America safe.”
TPS is a humanitarian program that grants temporary legal status and work authorization to nationals of designated countries experiencing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions that prevent safe return.
For Venezuelans, TPS was initially designated in March 2021 as a result of the country’s political, economic, and humanitarian crisis under their socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.
The majority of Venezuelans residing in America are supportive of Donald Trump, citing the chaos and destruction socialism has inflicted on their homeland.
During his last administration, Trump imposed major sanctions on the Venezuelan regime and, at one point, even floated the possibility of military intervention to remove Maduro from power.
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