Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Efforts to Terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans Under 2023 Designation

At a Glance

• On March 31, 2025, a federal judge in California temporarily halted Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s termination of the 2023 designation of Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which would have ended the protection from removal and ability to extend work authorization for 350,000 Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries on April 7, 2025.
• Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries who applied under the 2023 designation will now retain these protections while the case is decided. Specifically, Venezuelan TPS work authorization has been extended until April 2, 2026.
• Relatedly, beneficiaries who were issued TPS under Venezuela’s 2021 designation continue to be protected from removal and preserve their work authorization through September 10, 2025, if they have filed for an extension.

On March 31, 2025, in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, et al., Judge Edward M. Chen in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a motion to postpone Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s termination of the 2023 designation of Venezuela for TPS. Originally set to go into effect on April 7, 2025, the termination would have ended protection from removal and ability to extend work authorization for 350,000 Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries. Now, while the litigation continues, Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries who applied under the 2023 designation will retain these protections. More specifically, employers should permit Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries to continue employment until April 2, 2026. Specifically, those TPS beneficiaries would have presented EADs with category code A12 and C19 with an expiration date of September 10, 2025; April 2, 2025; March 10, 2024; or September 9, 2022; and their employment should be extended until April 2, 2026, pending further litigation.

This development is in line with what we had anticipated in our previous client alert. Specifically, litigation was expected considering the suddenness of the termination, which left individuals who otherwise thought they had removal protection and work authorization through October 2026 in limbo under short notice.

For background, on February 1, 2025, Secretary Noem announced the termination of Venezuela’s 2023 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. Pursuant to the termination, individuals in TPS status under the 2023 designation would have had their protection from removal and work authorization terminated on April 7, 2025.

Judge Chen has given a deadline of one week from March 31 for (1) the government to provide notice if it intends to appeal the court’s order, and (2) the plaintiffs to provide notice if they will be filing a similar motion to postpone termination of TPS protections for 500,000 Haitians, which are set to expire on August 3, 2025. In light of the federal injunction above, USCIS has provided employers specific guidance extending work authorization until April 2, 2026, for Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries, pending further litigation.

Considerations for Employers

As the future of the TPS program remains uncertain in 2025 and beyond, we encourage employers to be on top of their Form I-9 reverification requirements and stay in touch with updates to TPS so they can ensure they are continuing to employ individuals who are authorized to work.

On April 2, 2025, USCIS specifically instructed employers who employ Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries with employment authorization documents under the category code of A12 or C19 and an EAD expiration of September 10, 2025; April 2, 2025; March 10, 2024; or September 9, 2022, to extend the expirations until April 2, 2026. This updated information may be entered within Supplement B of the I-9 with the EAD information and a printout from the USCIS TPS Venezuela website.

While TPS offers temporary benefits and does not lead to lawful permanent resident status or give any other immigration status, it does not preclude beneficiaries from applying for nonimmigrant status, filing for adjustment of status based on an immigrant petition, or applying for any other immigration benefit or protection for which they may be eligible.

As a reminder, all employers are required to ensure that there is a compliant Form I-9 on file for every employee hired after November 6, 1986. Part of that compliance is ensuring that proper documentation is provided by TPS beneficiaries as well as timely reverification of expiring work authorization in Supplement B.

It is also important to make sure individuals who are allowed to work in the United States are not improperly rejected for not having a valid work authorization, leading to citizenship bias and related claims. TPS beneficiaries need to provide acceptable evidence of identity and work authorization for Form I-9 purposes as do all employees.

For More Information

For additional information, you can register for Faegre Drinker’s immigration and global mobility team’s Business Immigration Webinar Series: Compliance & Hiring Strategies for 2025, and listen to its February 11, 2025, webinar related to Immigration and Worksite Enforcement Considerations for Employers Under Trump 2.0, and register for its upcoming webinar, Business Immigration Update: Trump Presidency After 100 Days, scheduled for May 13, 2025.