Judge Extends Biden Amnesty for 530,000 Venezuelan Migrants
A federal judge has blocked former President Donald Trump from revoking the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) granted to 530,000 Venezuelan migrants, a measure originally enacted by former President Joe Biden’s administration. This group includes individuals linked to the Tren de Aragua gang.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of California, an Obama-era appointee, ruled that these migrants have established economic ties that provide them with a form of legal standing beyond the reach of shifting political decisions.
“They have higher educational attainment than most U.S. citizens (40-54% hold bachelor’s degrees), have higher labor participation rates (80-96%) [because they are younger, on average] … and annually contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy and pay hundreds of millions, if not billions, in Social Security taxes,” the order noted.
Stephen Miller, a key Trump policy adviser, sharply criticized the decision: “This is what we mean by judicial tyranny. Biden mass imported illegals from Venezuela, including criminals, gave them welfare and social security numbers. President Trump won an election promising to end the invasion. A rogue Marxist judge just ordered Biden’s amnesty continued.”
Trump had planned to begin phasing out TPS protections next month, but the judge argued that enforcing immigration laws would cause significant harm: “[The court] finds that the Secretary’s actions threaten to inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted. Cost the United States billions in economic activity and injures public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.”
The judge further stated, “At the same time, the government failed to identify any real countervailing harm in continuing TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries. Plaintiffs have also shown they will likely succeed in demonstrating that the actions taken by the Secretary [Kristi Noem] are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus. For these reasons, the court grants plaintiffs’ request to postpone the actions pending the filing of adjudication merits of this case.”
The arrival of these 530,000 migrants has contributed to rising housing costs and declining wages for American workers, increasing financial strain that makes it harder for families to establish themselves and raise children in the U.S.
Some Venezuelan migrants have been implicated in violent crimes, including cases like the tragic death of Laken Riley. The continued presence of these individuals raises concerns about additional crimes affecting everyday Americans.
Additionally, members of the Tren de Aragua criminal network are reportedly among the TPS recipients, with some allegedly involved in serious crimes, such as taking control of a residential complex in Aurora, Colorado.
Attorney John Miano, an expert in immigration law, criticized the ruling, stating, “The judge is completely disregarding the law … this is a judge who wants to be president rather than judge.”
The TPS statute explicitly states: “There is no judicial review of any determination of the Attorney General with respect to the designation, or termination or extension of a designation, of a foreign state under this subsection.”
Miano argues that higher courts, including circuit courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, should intervene to curb the overreach of lower court judges. He contends that these higher courts have a duty to provide oversight but often refrain from doing so to maintain their own authority.
“They don’t want to do it because they all want to preserve that [unconstrained legal] power for themselves. [So] the circuit courts don’t want to be slapping down [lower] judges because they don’t want to be slapped down by the [higher] Supreme Court,” Miano explained.
“They don’t manage [lower judges], and this is why we have chaos in the courts,” he added.
The case, National TPS Alliance v. Kristi Noem, Case No. 25-cv-01766-EMC, is currently being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.