Termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Designation for Venezuela and Other Humanitarian Parole Programs Under the Trump Administration 2.0

At a Glance

• The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated Venezuela’s 2023 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, which will end the protection from removal and ability to extend work authorization for 350,000 Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries on April 6, 2025.
• The termination does not affect individuals granted TPS under Venezuela’s 2021 designation, who will continue to be protected from removal and preserve their work authorization through September 10, 2025.
• The Trump administration 2.0 previously terminated other humanitarian parole programs, including the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) and the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) parole programs, leading U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to stop accepting new applications in compliance with the Securing Our Borders executive order. The fate of individuals who are currently present in the United States and have work authorization under the terms of these programs remains unclear. Over 530,000 are beneficiaries of the CHNV program alone.
• TPS designations for other countries, including those that are up for redesignation in 2025, remain uncertain and under scrutiny.

Status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Program — Venezuela

On January 28, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem terminated the redesignation of Venezuela for TPS, vacating the notice of TPS extension that was published in the last days of the Biden administration and that extended the TPS designation for Venezuela through October 2, 2026. The vacatur was published in the Federal Register on February 3, 2025, and rescinded automatic extension of the employment authorization documents (EADs) of individuals who benefitted from the now-vacated Biden-era extension. Individuals will revert to the employment authorization expiration date in effect prior to the Biden administration redesignation of TPS. The vacatur notice provides for the reimbursement of the government fees paid to USCIS by individuals who applied for EADs pursuant to the now-vacated TPS Venezuela extension under the Biden administration. The other countries that were redesignated for TPS on the same day as Venezuela — El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine — remain under active TPS designation as of February 5, 2025.

In addition, on February 1, 2025, Secretary Noem announced the termination of Venezuela’s TPS designation, and all benefits associated with the designation, including protection from removal and work authorization, effective 60 days following the publication of the termination notice in the Federal Register on February 5, 2025. Individuals in TPS status under the 2023 designation will have their protection from removal and work authorization terminated on April 6, 2025, while individuals in TPS status under the 2021 designation may lose their protection from removal and work authorization as early as September 10, 2025. Secretary Noem will need to decide whether to extend or terminate the designation for the latter by July 12, 2025. Litigation is expected considering the suddenness of the termination, which leaves individuals who otherwise thought they had removal protection and work authorization through October 2026 in limbo under short notice. The situation is very fluid, and we will continue monitoring new developments.

The end of TPS for Venezuela, CHNV and U4U, as well as other humanitarian programs charts a course for the fate of the 16 other countries that are under active TPS designation and other humanitarian parole programs, such as the one for Afghan Nationals (remains active as of February 5, 2025), under the Trump administration 2.0. Based on the recent executive orders, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” and “Securing Our Borders,” TPS country designations will be highly scrutinized as well as other parole programs. A termination or lack of redesignation or extension of a TPS designation makes recipients of the status ineligible for the protections and work authorization the status affords them immediately and leaves them at risk of being targeted for removal, unless they have another valid immigration status on which they can rely.

Next Steps for Employers

To reiterate our next steps recommendations in our recent alert related to TPS and other humanitarian programs, employers who seek to retain work authorization for TPS employees should screen their employees for other benefits and consider moving them to a true nonimmigrant status, where possible. While TPS beneficiaries are authorized to work as long as they maintain TPS, they are not required to get an EAD. However, they do need to provide acceptable evidence of identity and work authorization for Form I-9 purposes as do all new employees. Completing I-9s for TPS employees may be tricky as work authorization may be automatically extended either: (1) through Federal Register notice or (2) automatic extension through an individual USCIS notice. USCIS has provided guidance regarding the completion of I-9s for TPS beneficiaries, as well as a list of the latest TPS countries.

For More Information

For additional information, register for Faegre Drinker’s Immigration and Global Mobility practice’s Business Immigration Webinar Series: Compliance & Hiring Strategies for 2025, and specifically its upcoming February 11, 2025, webinar related to Immigration and Worksite Enforcement Considerations for Employers Under Trump 2.0.