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Welcome to The Logoff: The Supreme Court today ruled the Trump administration could strip deportation protections from nearly 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US — a victory for President Donald Trump that comes at the expense of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people.
What’s the context? Since 2021, many Venezuelan immigrants have had Temporary Protected Status, a program that allows migrants to stay and work in the US when their home countries experience disasters or civil strife. Venezuela is in an ongoing humanitarian crisis thanks to an authoritarian regime’s economic mismanagement and foreign sanctions. But upon taking office, the Trump administration attempted to revoke that status for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans. A federal judge froze the administration’s effort in March while lawsuits proceeded.
What’s the latest? The Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s freeze, ruling that deportations could begin — even while the cases are still in front of the courts.
What’s next? The administration is now free to begin deporting Venezuelans who had been covered by the status, though the court’s order still allows individual immigrants to challenge their deportations or the loss of work permits. Trump also aims to revoke Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of other immigrants later this year.
What does this mean for the immigrants? Venezuela is still in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, and deportations would mean a return to a country where work is scarce but suffering is not: More than 20 million people lack adequate access to food and medical care, according to Human Rights Watch.
What does this mean for the balance of power? Federal judges have repeatedly checked Trump’s power by freezing his actions while they work their way through the judicial system. Trump and his officials have raged against such freezes, saying they give individual judges too much power over the president. Today, the court sided with the White House, weakening another check on this administration’s power.
And with that, it’s time to log off…
Apropos of nothing in particular, here’s a wonderful old Washington Post story about how Haitian immigrants brought a North Carolina town back from the brink of economic collapse. If you’re in the mood for something totally free of politics, Vox’s Unexplainable podcast has an episode whose title I can’t resist: “The man who walked butterflies on a leash.” (You can listen here on Apple, here on Spotify.) Thanks so much for reading, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow.
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