Latest news with #EdwardChen
Toronto Star
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Judge blocks administration from revoking protected status for small subset of Venezuelans
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An estimated 5,000 Venezuelans granted temporary protected status can continue to work and live in the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling revoking protections while their lawsuit against the Trump administration is pending. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Friday that Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was extended to October 2026 are not affected by the Supreme Court's order and are not eligible for deportation.
Associated Press
20 hours ago
- General
- Associated Press
Judge blocks administration from revoking protected status for small subset of Venezuelans
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An estimated 5,000 Venezuelans granted temporary protected status can continue to work and live in the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling revoking protections while their lawsuit against the Trump administration is pending. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Friday that Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was extended to October 2026 are not affected by the Supreme Court's order and are not eligible for deportation. The Supreme Court last month gave the go-ahead for the Republican administration to strip TPS from an estimated 350,000 Venezuelans that would have expired in April. In doing so, the court put on hold Chen's order blocking the administration from revoking protections granted under President Joe Biden. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals. But they singled out applicants who had received work authorization and other paperwork with new expiration dates of Oct. 2, 2026. Chen said at a hearing Friday that the justices could have stayed silent as to that subset of people, but didn't. His court continues to hear the underlying claim that the revocations by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were unlawful. TPS allows people already in the United States to live and work legally because their native countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife. President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to deport millions of people, and in office has sought to dismantle Biden administration policies that expanded paths for migrants to live legally in the U.S.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Federal judge halts Trump admin from ending protected status for some Venezuelans
A California judge on Friday halted the Trump administration from revoking temporary protective status (TPS) for 5,000 Venezuelans. U.S. District Judge Edward E. Chen, an Obama appointee, said Friday the White House would have to uphold the TPS extension granted by former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in January. His successor, Kristi Noem, attempted to erode the protective status for Venezuelans in February by terminating a Biden-era order extending their ability to obtain updated paperwork, including work permits and other documents. 'According to Plaintiffs, Secretary Noem exceeded her statutory authority when sheeffectively canceled, on February 3, 2025, TPS-related documentation that had already beenissued based on the extension to October 2, 2026. Plaintiffs' position is meritorious. Nothing inthe TPS statute allows the Secretary to take such action,' Chen wrote in the order. Chen later wrote, 'The extension had real world consequences: it was effective, even if only for a brief period of time.' The Supreme Court previously issued an emergency order allowing the Trump administration to strip legal protections for migrants. However, their ruling does not block legal challenges contesting Noem's decision. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said her decision was racially discriminatory. The Homeland Security Secretary also ended deportation protections for Haitians earlier this year. In recent months, President Trump and his team have been named in a number of court battles initiated by plaintiffs who allege the administration has undertaken wrongful deportations and denied due process to individuals who have been removed. Throughout the campaign trail, Trump promised to carry out the largest deportation in the country's history, but the rate of removals still remains lower than the Biden administration's numbers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
New order by California judge protects some Venezuelan TPS holders from deportation
A federal judge has granted protection from deportation and work permits to as many as 5,000 Venezuelans who have Temporary Protected Status. U.S. District Judge Edward E. Chen in San Francisco on Friday granted an emergency motion filed by Venezuelan plaintiffs following last week's Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration can deport some Venezuelans on TPS while a challenge wends its way through the courts. Chen's order involves two key dates: Jan. 17, 2025, when Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security at the time, extended TPS for Venezuelans until next year, and Feb. 5, when the new DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, announced she was revoking the extension. In an 11-page ruling, Chen ordered the government to uphold the rights of TPS holders who received government documentation — such as work permits and/or TPS renewals — under Mayorkas's extension between those two dates. 'If DHS granted that extension, it must honor it and comply with the court's order,' said Emi MacLean, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who is among the lawyers representing the Venezuelans in the case. During Thursday's hearing, the government estimated that about 5,000 Venezuelans re-registered for TPS or work permits, a figure Chen referred to in his ruling. 'What we do know is that two of the named plaintiffs in our case do benefit from the order,' MacLean said. 'We also have named plaintiffs who fall outside the scope of Judge Chen's ruling—for example, those who received an automatic extension but only after February 5th. Additionally, we know there are people who made the effort to re-register but didn't receive any official notice in time to benefit from it.' The plaintiffs are represented by the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Noem revoked TPS protections for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans effective April 7 — stripping their right to work and exposing them to potential detention and deportation. Many affected individuals live in South Florida. After the Supreme Court ruling, Homeland Security updated its TPS guidance but has yet to clarify how it will implement the decision. On March 31, Chen blocked the Trump administration's attempt to revoke deportation protections for Venezuelans just days before their legal status was set to expire. Chen ruled that Venezuelan nationals with TPS could suffer 'irreparable injury' without a stay on their deportations. In April, a federal appeals court upheld Chen's stay, rejecting the government's request to lift it. However, on May 19 the Supreme Court issued a ruling favoring the Trump administration by allowing the termination of TPS to proceed while the case is litigated. The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit, which was filed by seven Venezuelans and the National TPS Alliance in federal court in San Francisco. The high court clarified that its order does not prevent ongoing challenges to Noem's decision to cancel work permits and other official documents set to expire on Oct. 2, 2026.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
US judge stops Trump administration from cancelling legal documents of 5,000 Venezuelans
A US federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cancelling work permits and other legal documents held by about 5,000 Venezuelans living in the country under temporary protection. In a ruling on Friday night, US District Judge Edward Chen said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem likely acted beyond her powers when she decided in February to cancel documents that allowed these individuals to work and live legally in the United States. The decision comes after the US Supreme Court on May 19 allowed the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans more broadly. TPS is granted to people from countries facing war, natural disasters, or other crises. But the court had also said its decision did not prevent affected individuals from challenging the cancellation of specific documents issued under the TPS programme. These documents had been granted during the final days of former President Joe Biden's term, when the Department of Homeland Security extended TPS for Venezuelans by 18 months, to October 2026. Secretary Noem later reversed that extension. Lawyers for several Venezuelans and the National TPS Alliance argued that without valid documents, many people could lose their jobs or face deportation. They asked the judge to confirm that the documents remained valid. 'There is nothing in the law that gives the Secretary the power to cancel those documents,' Judge Chen wrote in his ruling, according to Reuters. He also pointed out that only around 5,000 Venezuelans hold the specific documents in question. 'This smaller number cuts against any contention that the continued presence of these TPS holders… would be a toll on the national or local economies or a threat to national security,' he said. The Department of Homeland Security has not commented on the ruling. The judge's decision came just hours after the US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end a separate immigration programme that had granted temporary entry, or 'parole,' to more than 500,000 people from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua. (With inputs from Reuters)
