Some South Florida recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) say they refuse to live in fear after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week allowed the federal government to move forward with ending deportation protections for Venezuelans.
“I’m sad, very sad… we lost what we considered protection from ever being deported,” said Henyeth Marquez, a Venezuelan who filed for TPS in the United States in 2023. “I’m not going to hide, I’m going to file for political asylum.”
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted a request by the U.S. Justice Department to lift a California judge’s order that had temporarily blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate TPS for Venezuelans.
The move reversed an 18-month extension granted under the Biden administration that affected around 600,000 people.
Officials and activists respond to the decision
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, called the high court’s decision “a win for the American people and the safety of our communities.”
But activists on the ground see it differently.
“The fight is far from over, but this is a very big setback,” said Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus and a South Florida-based activist with the National TPS Alliance. The group filed a lawsuit in February challenging the Trump-era decision to revoke protections.
“Obviously, there are many people that are going to be without a status in the United States while this lawsuit finishes and there’s a final decision,” Ferro said. “What we are doing is exploring different possibilities of doing something to try to help them.”
Ferro and her organization are asking the federal government to hold off on deportations while legal proceedings continue.
“We can’t go back”
“It’s difficult to know that United States knows that Venezuela is a country that we can’t go back, because it’s not safe,” said Verona Sequera, a TPS recipient who currently has protection and a work permit valid until September 2025.
Still, she said the Supreme Court’s ruling adds stress for all Venezuelan immigrants, regardless of their current status.
“I am depending on this status. If they take it away from me, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Sequera said.
