The federal district judge of San Francisco Edward Chen suspended on Monday the decision of the Government of Donald Trump to end the temporal legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, a week before they expired. In a hard resolution of 78 pages, the judge precautionaryly suspends the measure taken by the Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, (TPS) was going to expire on April 7. In addition, there are another 250,000 Venezuelans for which the TPS ended in September.
“The Court considers that the secretary’s action [Noem] Threat with: whose lives, families and means of subsistence will be seriously disturbed, it will cost billions of dollars to the economic activity of the United States and will harm public health and safety in communities throughout the country ”,
“At the same time, the government has not been able to identify any real compensatory damage in the plaintiffs have also shown that they will probably be successful in demonstrating that the actions taken by the secretary [de Seguridad Nacional] They are not authorized by law, they are arbitrary and capricious, and are motivated by unconstitutional animosion, “he adds.” For these reasons, the Court grants the request of the plaintiffs to postpone the contested actions until the fund of this case is definitively resolved, ”
The lawsuit was filed by lawyers of the TPS National Alliance and by the resolution of Judge Chen, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, has effects throughout the country.
The Congress approved the law granted by TPS in 1990 to avoid deportations to countries that suffer from natural disasters or civil conflicts. This status authorizes living and working in the United States for periods of up to 18 months if the person at the head of the National Security Department considers that the conditions in their countries of origin are insecure for the return.
The one that annuls the existing TPS is an “unprecedented action”, “a step that has never taken any previous administration in the 35 years of the program” and that Noem took it only three days after assuming the position, reversing the measures of the previous government. Chen, which gives the government a week to present an appeal notification, also disassembles the xenophobic arguments on which the decision was based.
“Although the secretary’s actions seem to be based on negative stereotypes that defame the entire community (insinuating that they were released from Venezuelan prisons and mental health institutions and imposed huge financial burdens on local communities), the undisputed history establishes that the Venezuelan beneficiaries of the TPS, in fact, have a level of higher education to that of most American citizens (between 40% and 54% A degree), have high rates of labor participation (between 80%and 96%), obtain almost all their personal income (96%) and contribute annually with billions of dollars to the US economy and pay hundreds of millions, if not billions, in social security taxes.
In a view held on Monday last week, the lawyers of the TPS beneficiaries affirmed that Noem has no authority to cancel protections and that their actions were partly motivated by racism, says Associated Press. They asked the judge to suspend Noem’s orders, claiming the irreparable damage to the holders of the TPS fighting for the fear of deportation and the possible separation of their relatives.
Government lawyers said Congress gave the secretary a clear and broad authority to make decisions related to the TPS program and that decisions were not subject to judicial review. The plaintiffs have no right to prevent the secretary’s orders from executing, they said.
The judicial decision gives the plaintiffs a week to request the suspension of the resolution that of the Department of National Security that will end the protections of some 500,000 Haitians in August. Biden considerably expanded the use of TPS and other temporary forms of protection in a strategy to create and expand the legal routes to live in the United States, while suspending asylum for those who enter illegally.
Trump has questioned the impartiality of a federal judge who blocked his plans to deport Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, and has criticized his decision only a few hours before his administration asked a Court of Appeals to raise the order of the judge.
The Administration has also said that it will revoke those that have arrived in the United States since October 2022 through that Joe Biden used more than any other president. His two -year work permits will expire on April 24.
The Government has decided to suppress this legal status and the work visas of the beneficiaries and their relatives, who have been given a few weeks to self -lead and leave the country. If they do not do so before 30 days, they will be arrested for. That resolution has also been appealed to the courts.
