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The federal high court on Friday gave the green light to the Trump administration to remove legal protections from more than 300,000 people from Venezuela.

Justices' Interim Decision

The judges issued an interim ruling, which will remain in effect for the duration of the court case are ongoing, suspending a decision by a district judge that had prevented the government from revoking temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans.

The dissenting members opposed the decision.

Broader Immigration Policy

The executive branch has acted to eliminate several immigration benefits that allow migrants to remain in the US and hold jobs lawfully, including revoking TPS for a combined 600k Venezuelans and half a million Haitian nationals who were given legal status in the previous government.

TPS is provided in year-and-a-half intervals.

Previous Court Action

In May, the justices reversed a temporary injunction that affected another 350,000 Venezuelans whose legal status ended last spring.

The supreme court offered no clarification at the time, which is typical in urgent court requests.

“The same result that we decided in May is fitting here,” the court declared in an unattributed ruling.

Impact on Migrants

Some Venezuelans have lost their jobs and residences while some have been arrested and deported after the judges stepped in the first time, legal counsel informed the justices.

Opposing Views

“I regard today’s decision as another improper use of our emergency docket,” one justice stated. “Because, respectfully, I cannot abide our frequent, unwarranted and damaging interference with ongoing litigation while lives hang in the balance, I dissent.”

History of Protected Status

Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to states experiencing calamities, internal conflict or additional hazardous situations.

The designation can be issued by the homeland security secretary.

Earlier Judicial Determination

The trial court judge ruled that the federal department acted “with extraordinary speed and in an unprecedented manner … for the fixed intention of accelerating the revocation of Venezuela’s TPS status.”

In earlier dismissing the Trump team's urgent request, a different jurist wrote for a unified appeals court that the trial court had found that DHS made its “rulings beforehand and sought legal grounds for those decisions subsequently”.

Legal Arguments

The solicitor general had asserted in the latest legal submission that the court's spring ruling should likewise govern the current case.

“This case is recognized by the court and involves the increasingly familiar and unacceptable situation of lower courts flouting this court’s decisions on the urgent case list,” the counsel wrote.

The result, he said, is that the “new order, identical to the old one, stopped the nullification and conclusion of TPS impacting in excess of 300,000 aliens based on meritless legal theories”.