Since starting his second term in office, President Trump has been sorting out the border crisis that saw hundreds of thousands of immigrants enter the country. The termination of former President Joe Biden’s 2021 designation, which granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), is an example of this.
Breitbart reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Kristi Noem announced that the administration would be ending the TPS. This applies to nearly 270,000 Venezuelan migrants who have no other legal status to be in the country by September 10 this year.
In a statement that Breitbart shared, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesman Matthew Tragesser said:
“Given Venezuela’s substantial role in driving irregular migration and the clear magnet effect created by Temporary Protected Status, maintaining or expanding TPS for Venezuelan nationals directly undermines the Trump Administration’s efforts to secure our southern border and manage migration effectively.”
Tragesser added, “It’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest.”
According to Reuters, data published by the Congressional Research Service in December revealed that more than 256,000 Venezuelans received TPS under the 2021 designation. The TPS was created under the Immigration Act of 1990, which prevents federal immigration officials from deporting migrants who come from countries experiencing natural disasters, famine, or war. Breitbart reported that Biden’s administration saw historic levels of TPS amnesty, which would have resulted in providing amnesty to more than a million migrants by early 2025.
Since February, President Trump has lowered those levels and has ended TPS for migrants from places like Honduras, Afghanistan, and Haiti. This isn’t the first TPS that has been ended for Venezuelan migrants either. In May, President Trump ended the TPS amnesty for more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants under the 2023 TPS designation.
With this announcement, DHS officials are urging Venezuelan migrants to use the CBP Home mobile app to report their departure from the country. By doing this, they can secure a complimentary one-way flight ticket back to Venezuela and an additional $1,000 exit bonus, depending on their deported status.