TAMPA, Fla. — The temporary protection status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans was set to expire in early April – But a California judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration’s move to end it.

What You Need To Know

  •  Temporary Protection Status is extended for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans 

  •  A California Judge made the ruling just days before TPS was set to expire

  •  TPS protection is now extended for another year

The temporary block will last a year – ending in April 2026. Immigration Attorney Danielle Hernandez, who runs DVH Law Group in Tampa, says the order has brought some relief to some of her clients.

“I caution them because we have a year to figure out another strategy, in the end, everyone of Venezuelan nationality needs to know that they need to lean on something aside from TPS because we don’t know what’s going to happen from now until April,” Hernandez said.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, presiding in San Francisco, issued a nationwide injunction in response to a lawsuit brought by the national TPS Alliance and TPS holders across the country.

In January, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reversed a Biden Administration extension on TPS through October 2026, raising the potential for mass deportations. Judge Chen said the government had failed to show any real countervailing harm in continuing TPS. He also says Noem’s moves were unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and moved by unconstitutional animus.