A federal judge in San Francisco ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump's administration violated federal law by moving to cancel temporary protections from deportation for more than 1 million Venezuelans and Haitians living in the United States.
US District Judge Edward Chen said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked the authority to end the program, known as Temporary Protected Status or TPS, and the decision to do so was motivated by racism against Venezuelan and Haitian people.
"There is no evidence of any reasoned decision making" behind Secretary Noem's finding that the program should be canceled, Chen wrote.
Trump, a Republican, has made a crackdown on legal and illegal immigration a central plank of his second White House term. Canceling TPS protections would be a major boost to the administration's campaign to deport millions of people.
Earlier this week, the US military killed 11 people on in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, in the first known operation since his administration's recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.
He added that the US military had identified the crew as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the US designated a terrorist group in February.
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Chen in March had temporarily booked the cancellation of TPS status granted to about 600,000 Venezuelans during the administration of Trump's Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden. Haitian TPS recipients later joined the case.
The March ruling was upheald by an appeals court last week, but has been paused by the US Supreme Court.
The administration is likely to appeal Friday's decision. The US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Temporary Protected Status is available to people whose home country has experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. It provides eligible migrants with work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.
The program was created in 1991 and under Biden was extended to cover about 600,000 Venezuelans and 521,000 Haitians. Noem reversed the extensions in February, saying they were no longer justified.
But Chen on Friday agreed with a group representing TPS recipients that Noem made that decision without first consulting with relevant federal agencies or conducting a comprehensive review of conditions in the two countries.
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