WASHINGTON, DC – US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Wednesday announced the termination of the 2021 designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, which will expire on September 10, 2025.
This comes as President Donald Trump expands military build-up off the coast of Venezuela and the US military struck an alleged drug boat on Tuesday, killing “11 terrorists”.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the termination will be effective 60 days after the publication of the Federal Register notice.
At least 60 days before a TPS designation expires, DHS said “the secretary of homeland security, after consultation with appropriate US government agencies, must review the conditions in a country designated for TPS to determine whether the conditions supporting the designation continue to be met and, if so, how long to extend the designation.”
A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that, “given Venezuela’s substantial role in driving irregular migration and the clear magnet effect created by Temporary Protected Status, maintaining or expanding TPS for Venezuelan nationals directly undermines the Trump administration’s efforts to secure our southern border and manage migration effectively.
“Weighing public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest,” the spokesperson added.
After conferring with interagency partners, DHS said “Secretary Noem determined conditions in Venezuela no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements.
“The secretary’s decision was based on a US Citizenship and Immigration Services review of the conditions in Venezuela and in consultation with the Department of State,” DHS said. “The secretary has determined the termination of the 2021 Venezuela Temporary Protected Status designation is required because it is contrary to the national interest.”
DHS said Venezuelan nationals leaving the United States are “encouraged to use the US Customs and Border Protection CBP Home app to report their departure from the United States and take advantage of a safe, secure way to self-deport that includes a complimentary plane ticket, a US$1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.”
On Tuesday, Trump disclosed on his social media platform that he ordered US Armed Forces to strike a boat that the claimed was carrying alleged Tren de Aragua drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea.
“You had massive amounts of drugs. We have tapes of them speaking”, said Trump in Oval Office remarks on Wednesday. “It was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people.
“You see it, you see the bags of drugs all over the boat, and they were hit,” he added. “Obviously, they won’t be doing it again. And I think a lot of other people won’t be doing it again.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down, stating on Fox News: “We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented.
“And that was Tren de Aragua narco-terrorist organization designated by the United States as trying to poison our country with illicit drugs,” he added. “Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a deadly terrorist will face the same fate.”
On an official visit to Mexico City on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubion warned in a press conference: “We’re not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise ship. It’s not going to happen.”
On Monday, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro described, in a news conference, the US military build-up in the Caribbean as “an extravagant, unjustified, immoral and absolutely criminal” attack against his country that lies just off the southern coast of Trinidad and Tobago.
But Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar applauded the US attacked on the alleged drug boat.
“I, along with most of the country, am happy that the US naval deployment is having success in their mission,” she said in a statement on Tuesday. “The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense.
“I have no sympathy for traffickers; the US military should kill them all violently,” Persad-Bissessar added.
