A federal appeals court on Friday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to lift a court order blocking the termination of deportation protections for nearly 350,000 Venezuelans.
In a one-page decision issued on April 18, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the administration failed to show it would suffer “irreparable harm” if the lower court’s injunction remained in place. The court declined to stay a March 31 ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen that preserved Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans while a legal challenge proceeds.
The appeals court’s denial means that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s attempt to revoke TPS designations for Venezuelans remains blocked for now. The decision also sets up a high-stakes legal showdown this summer, with the court scheduled to hear full arguments in the case in July….