DHS Terminates 2021 Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans

The Department of Homeland Security ended the Biden-era designation that gave Venezuelan nationals temporary protected status in the United States.

Venezuelan migrants arrive after being deported from the United States, at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on April 23, 2025. Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Sept. 3 that it was revoking the 2021 designation of temporary protected status for Venezuelan nationals in the United States.

That status, which was previously set to expire on Sept. 10, will now be terminated 60 days after that date when the department publishes its notice to the Federal Register. The department indicated that it no longer believes that Venezuelan nationals meet the statutory requirements for temporary protected status.

“Given Venezuela’s substantial role in driving irregular migration and the clear magnet effect created by Temporary Protected Status, maintaining or expanding TPS for Venezuelan nationals directly undermines the Trump Administration’s efforts to secure our southern border and manage migration effectively,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement.

“Weighing public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest.”

Temporary protected status (TPS) is a program that gives people from certain countries the ability to stay in the United States legally for a period of time. The head of the Department of Homeland Security designates the status if temporary and extraordinary conditions prevent the migrants from returning to their home countries safely.

President Joe Biden established two designations of temporary protected status for Venezuelan nationals residing in the United States. The first, which was unveiled in 2021, was affected by the Sept. 3 revocation.

The second, which Biden announced in 2023, was set to expire in April, but on Jan. 10 it was extended for 18 months. The Trump administration terminated it earlier this year.

At the time, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem determined that “it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States.”

Biden’s homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, had granted temporary protected status to roughly 348,202 Venezuelan nationals, deeming that there were “extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent individuals from safely returning.”

In May, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s order to prevent the Trump administration from removing the temporary legal protections for Venezuelans so that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit could weigh in on the issue.

The federal appeals court last week upheld the original order that stopped the administration from moving forward with the policy that would make it easier to deport Venezuelan nationals.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who issued the original order, said at the time that ending the program “for reasons of national security” was not backed by evidence.

“Venezuelan TPS holders have lower rates of criminality than the general population,” he said. “Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes.”

On Sept. 3, CIS stated that Noem had moved to end the 2021 designation of temporary protected status for Venezuelans because maintaining the program “is contrary to the national interest.”

“Venezuelan nationals leaving the United States are encouraged to use the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP Home app to report their departure from the United States and take advantage of a safe, secure way to self-deport that includes a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration,” CIS said in a statement.

Zachary Stieber, Sam Dorman, and Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.