WASHINGTON In a significant legal move, the Trump administration has formally requested that the Supreme Court revoke the temporary legal protections currently afforded to approximately 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States. This request, submitted on Thursday, could potentially expose these individuals to deportation, which has raised alarm among immigrant advocacy groups and communities across the nation.

The Justice Department is seeking to place a hold on a recent ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco, which had extended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. This ruling was particularly crucial as the TPS was set to expire last month, and its continuation allows individuals already residing in the U.S. to live and work legally. The basis for granting TPS is that the immigrants come from countries deemed unsafe for return due to factors such as natural disasters or civil unrestconditions that have been rampant in Venezuela in recent years.

Previously, a federal appeals court had rejected the Trump administration's request to terminate this protective status. The administration has been aggressively pursuing the withdrawal of various immigration protections, aiming to end TPS not only for Venezuelans but also for an additional 500,000 Haitians, which collectively impacts around a million immigrants who have been shielded from deportation.

Coinciding with this emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, a federal judge in Texas ruled against the administration's attempts to deport Venezuelans utilizing an archaic 18th-century wartime law. Notably, these two cases, while both involving Venezuelan immigrants, are not directly related. The protections for Venezuelans had been initially set to expire on April 7. However, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen intervened, ordering a pause on the expiration plans. He articulated that the termination of TPS would significantly disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and could result in billions of dollars in lost economic activity. Judge Chen, who was appointed during the Obama administration, concluded that the government had failed to demonstrate any tangible harm that would necessitate ending the program.

In response, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, representing the administration, argued that Judge Chen's ruling disrupts the administrations authority over immigration and foreign relations. He asserted that the individuals affected by the cessation of TPS might have alternative legal avenues available to them to remain in the country, emphasizing that the termination of TPS does not equate to a formal order of removal.

The Temporary Protected Status program was established by Congress in 1990 as a humanitarian measure aimed at preventing deportations to nations experiencing significant turmoil or catastrophic events. The future of the program for Venezuelans, however, now hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court considers the administrations appeal.