Employment / 1 min read
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal from the Trump administration as it seeks to limit the Temporary Protected Status Program. The program authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to allow immigrants from countries facing humanitarian crises to remain in the U.S. and work legally.
In 2023, the Biden Administration extended Temporary Protective Status ("TPS") to 350,000 Venezuelans. But Secretary Kristi Noem, whom President Trump nominated to lead Homeland Security, revoked a pair of extensions the Biden Administration announced in its final days that would have allowed all Venezuelan TPS holders to keep their legal protections through October 2026.
In March, a federal district judge stalled Noem's attempt to reverse her predecessor's decisions. On Monday, the Supreme Court lifted this ruling while litigation proceeds in the lower courts. The High Court's decision appears to allow the Trump administration to immediately revoke TPS for the 350,000 Venezuelans who received protections under the Biden Administration's 2023 Executive Order.
A separate group of 250,000 Venezuelans received TPS status under an earlier 2021 designation by the Biden Administration. Those immigrants would have been covered by the Biden Administration's extensions through October 2026 but are now at risk of losing their protections in September 2025 under the Trump plan.
What this means for Employers:
Employers with Venezuelan workers who used their Temporary Protected Status to gain or maintain employment will likely have to re-check the I-9s of potentially affected employees as soon as any change to the Venezuelan TPS status is finalized. If an employee's TPS status is revoked, employers must promptly determine whether the employee is otherwise authorized to work in this country. If not, these employees will need to be terminated. The recent Supreme Court decision means that Venezuelan work authorizations will change quickly, so employers will need to take quick action to determine whether any of their employees have been affected by changes and act accordingly.