Judge blocks DHS on Venezuelan program

Travel ban delayed, lawsuit filed against 'alien registration'

By: Bart Jansen
Francesca Chambers
Erin Mansfield
and Lauren Villagran
USA Today

..... A federal judge on Monday [03/31/2025] blocked the Trump administration from ending a program that allowed 600,000 Venezuelans to live and work temporarily in the U.S., leaving 350,000 at risk of deportation.
...... Addition all, the administration's plan to bar entry to foreign nationals from countries failing to meet vetting standards has been indefinitely postponed, and immigrant advocates sued the administration over a rule requiring immigrants to register with the federal government or face criminal prosecution.
..... Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February [2025] ordered an end to the program called Temporary Protected Status. She found the immigration a burden on local governments and said the Venezuelans included members of the crime gang Tren de Aragua that Prescient Donald Trump declared as foreign terrorist organization.
..... But U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in Northern California blocked her order Monday [03/31/2025] which the case plays out in court.
..... Chen ruled that ending the program could harm hundreds of thousands of people, cost the economy billions of dollars and injure public health and safety. He also said the government hadn't identified any real harm in keeping the program.
..... The advocacy group Nation la TPS Alliance and a handful of Venezuelans field the lawsuit aiming to prevent the program from being terminated by arguing it was not safe for them to return to their home country.
..... "Plaintiffs have also shown they will likely succeed in demonstration that the actions taken by the Secretary are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus," Chen wrote in his ruling.
..... The Biden administration designated Venezuela for the TPS program March 2021 based on :extraordinary and temporary conditions." The program was extended through April 2. [2025]
..... Noem found the TPS program allowed "a significant population of inadmissible or illegal aliens" to settle in the country, including members of the crime gang Tren de Aragua.
..... Noem decided it isn't the national interest for Venezuelans to remain in the U.S. and that in Venezuela "there are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health and crime."
.... But Chen noted that Venezuela remains "so rife with economic and political upheaval and danger that the State Department has categorized Venezuela as a 'Level 4: Do Not Travel' country 'due to the high risk of wrongful detentions, terrorism, kidnapping, the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest [and] poor health infrastructure.'"

Travel ban indefinitely delayed

..... A plan for the Trump administration to bar entry into the United States form foreign nationals whose countries do not meet its vetting standard has been postponed, with no new date set.
..... The State Department said Monday [03/31/2025] it is continuing to work on the report that would serve as the basis for the anticipated visa restriction but could not say when it would be ready. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office [01/20/2025] requesting recommendations on what new visa restitutions should be applied to which countries by March 21. [2025]
..... Trump gave his administration 60 days to submit a report "identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals form those countries.
..... A list of more than 40 nations, including Iran, Russia and Venezuela, were reportedly under consideration for full or partially restricted travel to the U.S. as part of the mandate, which built on a travel ban Trump enacted during his first term and the Supreme Court upheld.
..... But the date for an official list to be submitted came and went without news from the White House, and a State Department spokesperson declared the deadline no longer in effect.

Trump pushes 'alien registration'

..... Advocates say President Trump's revival of a dormant "alien registrations' law requiring immigrant to register with the federal government or face criminal prosecution would turn the U.S. into a "show me your papers: country and expose non- citizens - even those here legally - to a new criminal enforcement regime, the lawsuit claims.
..... The complaint filed in U.S. district Court in Washington, D.C., alleges the Department of Homeland security and top administration leaders failed to follow procedure in announcing plans to enforce the rule, which is set to take effect April 11. [2025]
..... "We're talking about a new readily in America, in which anyone perceived to be an immigrant would have to carry their identity documents any time they leave the house and be prepare to show them to law enforcement on demand, at risk of being arrested," said Michelle Lapointe, legal director at the nonprofit American Immigration Council, one of the plaintiffs.
..... DHS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
..... On his first day in office, [01/20/2025] Trump issued an executive order called "protecting the American People Against Invasion." It ordered the DHS to ensure all "unregistered aliens" register with the government and submit fingerprints and biographical information.
..... "The Trump administration's policy raises the possibility that immigrants who are registered -regardless of lawful status - might be criminally charged and penalized for failing to carry proof of their registration with them at all times," according to an American Immigration Council analysis.
..... In the intern final rule published in the Federal Register, the administration quotes a law on the books since 1940 that requires "alien registration."
..... The requirement was used during World War II at a time when the U.S. government was worried about a "fifth column: of disloyal non-citizens, according to the lawsuit. It was later incorporated into the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
..... It has remained in the law ever since.

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