Trump Ends Temporary Protected Status For 600,000 Venezuelans Fleeing Maduro Regime, Restores Their Freedom To Return To Maduro Regime

WASHINGTON. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday vacated the Biden administration's extension of Temporary Protected Status for an estimated 600,000 Venezuelan nationals, restoring the freedom of refugees who fled the Maduro regime to return to the Maduro regime.

The decision, formalized for Federal Register publication later in the week, ends humanitarian protections originally granted in 2021 in response to what the State Department at that time described as an authoritarian collapse marked by political repression, hyperinflation, and the systematic dismantling of Venezuelan democratic institutions. Senior administration officials confirmed Tuesday that conditions in Venezuela have not improved since 2021, and clarified that this fact was not relevant to the decision.

"The word 'temporary' has a meaning, and that meaning has lately begun to look uncomfortably similar to 'allowed to remain long enough to learn English, pay taxes, and put down roots,'" said an official familiar with the planning, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are restoring its original definition, which is that the protection ends whenever the Secretary says it does."

Affected Venezuelans, many of whom have lived in the United States for years under work authorization, will now have several months to depart voluntarily before becoming subject to removal proceedings. The administration noted that those uncomfortable returning to the country whose authoritarian government they fled were welcome to relocate themselves to any of several third countries that have already publicly stated they do not want them.

Asked whether the decision contradicted the President's repeated insistence that Venezuela is being run by a dangerous socialist dictator who has destroyed his country, a senior White House official explained that there was no contradiction. "Venezuela is dangerous enough that we cannot allow more of its people to come here," the official said. "And it is safe enough that we are sending the ones already here back."

The order is the first in what officials describe as a category-by-category rollback of humanitarian designations covering Haitians, Afghans, Cameroonians, and others, each of whom will in coming weeks be informed that the conditions from which they fled have, for purposes of their continued presence, ceased to exist.

At press time, the President was personally negotiating with Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro to resume direct deportation flights, an arrangement Maduro had reportedly characterized as a sign of strengthened bilateral cooperation between the two governments.