Ninth Circuit Clears Way to Restore Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans

A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way to restore deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans on November 6. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the government’s request for a stay in the National TPS [Temporary Protected Status] Alliance v. Mullin case. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, attorneys representing Venezuelan TPS holders say their protections will resume while the case continues. TPS allows eligible recipients to work legally in the United States and protects them from deportation while their status remains in effect. It does not itself provide permanent residency. The court also rejected the administration’s fallback request for an administrative stay of at least 21 days. Its brief order said a separate order would establish an expedited schedule for briefs addressing the merits of the appeal. Friday’s decision did not resolve the underlying legal challenge. The dispute concerns former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to undo an extension of Venezuela’s TPS designation and then to terminate the designation. A district court ruled on September 5, 2025, that she had exceeded her statutory authority, according to the plaintiffs’ legal team. The Supreme Court put that ruling on hold on October 3, 2025, allowing the administration’s actions concerning Venezuela to remain in effect during further appeals. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan would have denied the administration’s application, while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. On October 5, 2026, the Supreme Court vacated an earlier Ninth Circuit judgment and returned the case for reconsideration following its decision in Mullin v. Doe. The government then asked the appeals court to issue another stay when the existing Supreme Court stay expires on November 6. The Ninth Circuit declined on Friday. The plaintiffs’ attorneys said the administration contended that the Supreme Court’s June ruling in Mullin v. Doe prevented federal courts from reviewing their challenge. The TPS holders argued that judges could still decide whether the secretary had acted beyond the authority Congress provided.