Venezuelans in Chicago under the TPS program now face deportation after the Supreme Court upheld the revocation of the TPS program by the administration. This could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who have been living in the United States for years under Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
This status allows immigrants to live and work in the U.S. with no threat of deportation, although it does not provide a pathway to citizenship or permanent residency. A lower court blocked Homeland Security’s attempt to terminate the TPS program for Venezuelans in February, but the Supreme Court lifted the lower court’s injunction.
The vice president for immigrant justice at the Resurrection Project states that the agency has assisted over 9,000 Venezuelan immigrants in applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and asylum status. Unfortunately, the conditions in Venezuela have not improved significantly since these individuals came to the United States. Chicago officials estimate that their city has welcomed more than 51,000 migrants from the southern border since August of 2022 and that about 30,000 are from Venezuela.