On Monday, the US Supreme Court granted a stay to a US district court order in NTPSA v. Noem, allowing the vacatur of the temporary protection status (TPS) for 350,000 Venezuelans to proceed.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a vacatur notice on February 3, thereby vacating the temporary protection status issued by former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on January 10. The Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the secretary to designate a foreign state for TPS if the secretary determines that certain conditions exist. In this instance, Secretary Mayorkas designated Venezuela based on temporary conditions he believed prevented Venezuelan nationals from returning safely.

TPS authorizes foreign nationals to work and remain in the US and defers enforcement of departure proceedings while the status is active. After Secretary Noem issued her notice of vacatur in February, the National TPS Alliance and others filed suit, arguing that the “early terminations” of TPS violate the Administrative Procedure Act and are motivated by “racial animus” in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

Following the lawsuit, a US federal district court placed a hold on the vacatur. The government first appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a stay, but the request was denied. An emergency application for a stay was then filed with the US Supreme Court, which granted a stay pending the Ninth Circuit’s decision on the appeal. Notably, the stay will automatically terminate upon the disposition of a writ of certiorari, either when the certiorari is denied or, if granted, when the Court issues its final judgment.

Proceedings in this matter are ongoing. The vacatur impacts the 350,000 Venezuelans issued TPS in 2023, which was extended in January 2025 by Secretary Mayorkas. Despite reporting to the contrary, the notice of TPS vacatur issued by Secretary Noem does not vacate protections for Venezuelans covered under Secretary Mayorkas’s 2021 grant of TPS or Haitian nationals with TPS status.