A federal judge in San Francisco has once again prevented the Trump administration from canceling immigration protections for immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti, ruling that the move to revoke their status was unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen determined that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acted improperly when attempting to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for those groups, Politico reports.
Chen, appointed by President Barack Obama, concluded that the Department of Homeland Security failed to provide proper analysis before stripping protections. He called the effort "preordained" and said it violated the federal law guiding agency decision-making.
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His order, which takes effect immediately, protects hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan and Haitian nationals from losing legal status and work permits, Politico adds.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to proceed with winding down TPS on a temporary basis, lifting a previous injunction issued by Chen.
In his new decision, Chen said that ruling did not block him from issuing a final judgment. He emphasized that the high court's order was narrow and only addressed the earlier, temporary injunction.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson condemned the ruling, arguing that the TPS system has been "abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program,” Politico reports.
The spokesperson vowed that Secretary Noem will pursue every legal option to end the program, portraying the judge as an "unelected activist" obstructing public demand for stronger borders.
The ruling comes amid growing disputes over whether lower courts are sidestepping Supreme Court directives, particularly in cases decided through emergency orders.
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh recently criticized what they saw as judicial defiance, while some trial judges contend that the high court's brief emergency rulings create uncertainty.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly note dissent in the earlier order that allowed the Trump administration to advance its TPS rollback.
The case is part of a larger fight over the administration's mass deportation agenda, which has repeatedly been challenged in federal courts.
While the Supreme Court has at times permitted the administration to proceed with its immigration restrictions, lower courts like Chen's continue to push back, leaving long-term outcomes unsettled, Politico adds.
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