Los Angeles – A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today unanimously upheld a federal judge’s ruling that concluded the unprecedented termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an estimated 600,000 Venezuelans is illegal, and held the federal judge has the authority to decide the case.

"This is a win for the TPS community. We are here because our country is in crisis. This is why TPS exists,” said Cecilia Gonzalez, a Venezuelan plaintiff with TPS. “The Ninth Circuit has recognized that the Trump administration cannot do away with TPS simply because they don't like it. We will keep fighting for our rights under the law." 

The Ninth Circuit’s ruling in NTPSA v. Noem further recognized that TPS holders face severe harm as a result of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s illegal actions. They face detention, deportation, family separation, and the loss of employment. This decision does not, on its own, protect Venezuelan TPS holders given that the U.S. Supreme Court previously stayed the emergency relief ordered by the district court earlier this year. It does, however, mean that the district court is now free to issue its decision on final relief, where it had stayed the case waiting for guidance from the Court of Appeals. 

"Today’s ruling thankfully shows that the Trump administration is not above the law," said Freddy Arape, an IT specialist and TPS holder. "For me and so many others who fled violence and instability in our home countries, TPS has been a lifeline. I am hopeful that the humanitarian protections that Congress created will continue." 

“There are now two comprehensive decisions carefully explaining  why the Venezuelan vacatur is illegal but neither has any effect because of the two paragraph unreasoned U.S. Supreme Court order,” said UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy Faculty Co-Director Ahilan Arulanantham. “This is not how a rational legal system should work.”

“Trump has sought to destroy TPS from day one,” said Emi MacLean, attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. “The only courts that have meaningfully reviewed this government’s actions have rejected the government’s extreme position that the administration can do whatever they want, with no regard for current law.” 

“Today's decision does not give us an immediate solution, but it sends a signal that we are on the right side of history. By winning a just decision from a court system that is losing credibility for failing to meaningfully check the unprecedented authoritarianism of the Trump Administration, immigrants are once again preserving the due process and checks and balances that are the cornerstone of U.S. democracy for all the people of this country,” said Jose Palma, Co-Coordinator of the National TPS Alliance. 

“Every day, Venezuelan TPS holders are being fired from their jobs, detained, and deported to a country the State Department says is unsafe to even visit–even though  the Trump Administration had no authority to revoke their lawful status,” said Jessica Bansal, attorney at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). “We are hopeful that today's decision paves the way for a quick final decision from the district court that can restore much-needed protections."  

The plaintiffs are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the ACLU Foundations of Northern California and Southern California, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law and Haitian Bridge Alliance. 

Read the ruling here.

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