Federal judge in Boston says prior ruling preserves Venezuelan deportation protections

Boston Globe

01-04-2025

The Boston case is among four suits filed across the country by immigrant advocates who allege the Trump administration lacked the authority to revoke
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Although Stearns declined to issue a stay of Noem's order ending TPS, he allowed the Boston lawsuit to go forward.
On Monday, California US District Judge Edward Chen ruled that Noem's plan to end TPS for Venezuelans on April 7 threatens to 'inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted' and cost the United States billions in economic activity.'
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He found the government failed to identify any real, countervailing harm in continuing TPS for Venezuelans.
'Plaintiffs have also shown they will likely succeed in demonstrating that the actions taken by the secretary are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus,' Chen wrote in a 78-page opinion.
He issued a nationwide stay that prevents Noem from ending TPS for Venezuelans while legal challenges are pending. Immigration advocates are preparing to seek a similar court order preventing Noem from ending TPS for Haitians in August.
Lawyers for Civil Rights filed the suit in Boston last month on behalf of Haitian Americans United Inc., the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, and the UndocuBlack Network, arguing that the administration's plan to revoke TPS is driven by racial and ethnic bias.
Outside the federal courthouse in Boston on Tuesday, Oren Sellstrom of Lawyers for Civil Rightssaid the impact of the California ruling is 'dramatic' and means that Venezuelans who were about to lose deportation protections may continue to legally live and work in the United States.
A couple of dozen demonstrators from various immigrant groups gathered on the sidewalk with signs supporting deportation protections for Venezuelans and Haitians.
'Regardless of who you are in this country you have rights,' said Patrice Lawrence, executive director of the UndocuBlack Network, vowing to continue fighting for TPS as the legal challenges unfold in Boston, San Francisco, Maryland and New York.
'Justice prevailed,' said Ciro Valiente, a spokesperson for the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, referring to the California ruling.
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However, he said as the
government continues to aggressively move on deportations, 'The fear is still there.'
TPS, which was created in 1990, is a humanitarian program that gives immigrants from 17 countries facing violence, political upheaval or natural disasters legal authority to temporarily stay and work in the United States.
TPS was first granted to Haiti in 2010 following a devastating earthquake and has been repeatedly extended since then. Last year, the Biden administration extended TPS until Feb. 3, 2026 for Haitians in the program.
The Biden administration first granted TPS to Venezuelans in 2021, citing political and economic instability in the country under President Nicolas Maduro. In January, it extended the protections to Oct. 2, 2026.
Days after Noem's appointment in February, she announced that she was ending TPS for roughly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants in April and another 250,000 in September, and for all Haitians by Aug. 3.
Those actions will impact 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants and 521,000 Haitians who will no longer be able to work and may face deportation.
The Justice Department argued in a court filing that Noem has 'clear authority' and discretion to terminate TPS for Haiti and Venezuela and that the statute creating the program 'broadly prohibits judicial review' of the secretary's decision.
Noem vacated TPS extensions granted by the previous administration after reviewing conditions in Haiti and Venezuela, and conculding it was
'contrary to the national interest' to permit immigrants from those countries to remain temporarily in the United States, the government wrote.
'Plaintiffs' analysis fails to acknowledge that the secretary's determinations are rooted in foreign policy considerations,' the government wrote in its opposition to the request for a stay of Noem's termination of TPS.
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The Boston lawsuit describes TPS as 'a critical lifeline in the United States for immigrants who have fled their home countries due to extreme violence, political upheaval, and natural disasters.'
The suit says there is overwhelming evidence, based on remarks made by Trump and Noem, that the action was racially motivated.
'The list of dehumanizing and disparaging statements that Defendant Trump has made against Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants is unfortunately long: ranging from racist tropes that Haitians 'all have AIDS' and eat dogs and cats, to routinely describing Venezuelans and other Latino immigrants as sub-human 'animals,'' the suit says.
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Shelley Murphy can be reached at