CASA challenges Trump order revoking Venezuelans’ protected status

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CASA, the Prince George’s County-based immigrants’ rights organization, on Thursday sued the Trump administration over a decision to vacate the Temporary Protected Status of Venezuelans — a decision that could affect more than 600,000 people.

The lawsuit, in Maryland federal court, alleges Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem broke the law and was motivated by racism when she undid her predecessor’s extension of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans earlier this month.

“DHS’s recent actions ignore the statutory scheme that Congress enacted and instead threaten to force lawfully-admitted and TPS-eligible Venezuelans and their families to return to a country experiencing one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the Western Hemisphere,” the complaint states.

CASA sued with Make the Road New York, an organization that provides similar services to immigrants, on behalf of their members, many of whom have ties to Venezuela or are in the United States legally with Temporary Protected Status.

The program allows people fleeing repression or natural disasters to live legally and obtain work permits in the United States. The lawsuit is the second challenge in defense of Venezuelans’ protected status — another group sued in San Francisco on Wednesday — and comes amid a wave of litigation alleging abuses of power by the Trump administration.

It’s also not CASA’s first case against the administration. Earlier this month, it sued with a group of pregnant immigrant women over an executive order attempting to revoke birthright citizenship.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended protections for Venezuelans days before he left office in January. He argued the quality of life under authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro had not improved.

DHS wrote that an 18-month extension, to October 2026, was warranted “based on the severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crises under the inhumane Maduro regime. These conditions have contributed to high levels of crime and violence, impacting access to food, medicine, healthcare, water, electricity, and fuel.”

Mayorkas’s decision extended eligibility for Venezuelans who have lived in the country since at least July 2023.

Noem’s reversal means their legal status could end in April. The department argued in its termination notice that an extension was “contrary to the national interest.”

The plaintiffs claim the Immigration and Nationality Act does not give Noem the authority to vacate extensions.

They say Noem bypassed the standard review process for ending a country’s protected-status designation, which involves a thorough assessment of the conditions of the country in consultation with the State Department. While an administration may refuse to renew that designation with notice, the plaintiffs argue that period cannot legally be cut short.

DHS does not comment on pending litigation, but Noem said on Fox News that “the people of this country want these dirtbags out.”

The lawsuit also notes an appearance Noem made on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” in which she claimed Venezuelan migrants were criminals and gang members.

On Thursday, Noem rescinded a similar extension of the program for Haitians, saying she was “returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades.”

CASA and Make the Road New York’s lawyers brought the case with support from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

The two membership organizations are the only plaintiffs, but the complaint describes several Venezuelan individuals in Maryland and elsewhere who may lose their status.

One is A.E., who works as a food delivery driver and supports three kids, a wife and another family member.

The complaint states, “Losing TPS would expose (his) family to severe economic hardship and increase his risk of being removed to a country where he does not feel safe.”