The Trump administration announced this week that it will terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan nationals, a designation that has shielded more than 256,000 people from deportation.
The decision will also impact over 106,000 pending applications for protection and renewal.
TPS was initially granted to Venezuelans under Joe Biden, who issued two separate designations—one in 2021 and another in 2023—allowing eligible migrants to work legally in the United States and remain in the country temporarily.
The program is intended for individuals whose home nations face armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances.
The Department of Homeland Security said Venezuela no longer meets those requirements.
“Weighing public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson added that Venezuela’s role in driving irregular migration, combined with what officials described as the “magnet effect” created by TPS, directly undermined efforts by the Trump administration to secure the southern border.
The designation will expire on September 10, with DHS clarifying that the termination will officially take effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
Venezuelan nationals under TPS will be required to depart the United States or face removal.
According to DHS, the termination will affect 256,000 Venezuelans currently living under TPS protections, along with 3,728 pending new applications and 102,935 pending renewals.
The Trump administration has pursued the rollback of Venezuelan TPS since earlier this year.
In February, less than a month after President Trump returned to office, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem ordered the removal of protections, arguing that the designation was “contrary to the national interest.”
That move was blocked by a federal judge in California, who said the decision was “predicated on negative stereotypes” and unconstitutional.
However, the Supreme Court later ruled in favor of the administration, allowing deportations to proceed.
In April, Trump ended the second TPS designation issued under Biden in 2023, a move that impacted an estimated 348,000 Venezuelans, according to Fox News.
As part of the wind-down process, DHS has said Venezuelans who voluntarily register their departure through the CBP Home app will receive assistance.
Incentives include a complimentary flight, a $1,000 exit bonus, and the possibility of being considered for legal immigration opportunities in the future.
The TPS decision was announced a day after President Trump revealed that U.S. forces carried out a strike on a drug-trafficking vessel originating from Venezuela.
Speaking Tuesday afternoon, Trump said the mission targeted operatives from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
“You’ll see that we just, over the last few minutes literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat,” Trump said.
“We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time, and we just—these came out of Venezuela. And coming out very heavily from Venezuela, a lot of things are coming out of Venezuela, so we took it out.”
The president later posted on Truth Social that 11 narcoterrorists were killed in the operation and confirmed that no U.S. military personnel were injured.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” Trump wrote, closing with his signature: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!”
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, whose government the U.S. does not recognize as legitimate, responded angrily to the strike and the growing U.S. military presence in the region.
Maduro accused the United States of making “an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.”
Maduro has warned that Venezuela would “declare a republic in arms” if attacked and announced that the country’s military forces had been placed on maximum alert.
The Pentagon has confirmed that at least seven U.S. warships have been deployed to the southern Caribbean as tensions with Venezuela escalate.