Obama-appointed judge won’t let Trump admin end protected legal status for nearly a million

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Friday from ending temporary legal protections granted to hundreds of thousands from Haiti and Venezuela.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee, found ending the protections “exceeded the Secretary’s statutory authority and was arbitrary and capricious.”

“The Secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violatates [sic] the law,” Chen held.

“For the first time in the 35-year history of the TPS program, the Trump Administration and DHS Secretary Noem took the extraordinary and unusual act of vacating TPS extensions that had already been granted – specifically, extensions given by the prior administration to Venezuela and
Haiti,” the judge wrote. “They did so even though this action is not, as the Ninth Circuit has strongly indicated, statutorily authorized.”

A DHS spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program has “been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program” for decades.

“Its use has been all the more dangerous given the millions of unvetted illegal aliens the Biden Administration let into this country,” the spokesperson said. “While this order delays justice, Secretary Noem will use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans.”

“Under God, the people rule. Unelected activist judges cannot stop the will of the American people for a safe and secure homeland,” the spokesperson continued.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Latest posts by Katelynn Richardson (see all)

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.