A quarter of a million Venezuelans face deportation at midnight on Friday when the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that protects them expires, dealing a severe blow to migrants who prefer to stay in the shadows rather than return to their country.
“We can’t go back to Venezuela, there’s nothing left for us there, I prefer to stay in hiding,” says Oriana, a Venezuelan immigrant who does not want to give her last name, in a telephone interview with EFE.
TPS ends for 250,000 Venezuelans
What are the legal alternatives for the thousands of Venezuelans who lose Temporary Protected Status (TPS)? https://t.co/hvNR0QJg5F
– CNN en Español (@CNNEE) November 7, 2025
The 38-year-old mother of a 15-year-old teenager says she lived in Florida for more than five years.
But he recently decided to move and settle in another state, following the decision of President Donald Trump’s administration to end the protection for Venezuelans granted by his predecessor.
TPS protects beneficiaries from deportation and grants them a work permit, which Oriana will lose as of this Friday.
“I stopped using that permit, I am adapting to my new reality,” says the immigrant.
The Venezuelan does not want to give details about where she will settle, or how she will support herself, after losing her employment authorization.
He assures that he will disconnect his cell phone number and start “a new life” in hiding, but still in the United States.
There is still hope
Capriles says end of TPS robs Venezuelans of their ‘right to live without fear‘https://t.co/cYwiPA5OUd pic.twitter.com/GIbrhHu7An
– el Nuevo Herald (@elnuevoherald) November 7, 2025
“I am aware that with TPS we had a privilege compared to other immigrants such as Colombians or Mexicans, but from them I learned that we must not lose hope and that we must endure as long as we can,” says the immigrant.
An attitude applauded by José Palma, coordinator of the TPS Alliance, a coalition that is leading a lawsuit against the Trump administration to keep the amparo alive.
“The fight is still going on in the courts, the last decision has not been given,” warns the activist.
The legal challenge seeks to protect two groups of covered Venezuelans, those in 2021, some 250,000 whose TPS expires today.
As well as the beneficiaries of the 2023 extension, some 350,000, who were left unprotected since last month when the Supreme Court allowed the White House to proceed with its plans while the battle in the lower courts continues.
The case is before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals where a panel will hear arguments from both sides.
This after the Trump Administration appealed a ruling by a federal judge who ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem exceeded her legal authority in terminating the injunction and that her decision was “arbitrary and capricious.”
TPS back in the Supreme Court?
Palma does not rule out that the legal battle will reach the Supreme Court again, where the justices will have to fully consider the case.
A total of 600,000 Venezuelans will be at risk of immediate detention and deportation as of midnight Friday, the largest number of people who have lost TPS in the history of the relief.
This is not the first time Trump has engaged in a fight against the benefit established in 1990; in his first term he tried to end protection for immigrants from six countries, mostly Central American, but lost the legal battle.
Ya ganamos una vez en la corte, podemos volver a lograrlo
José Palma
The TPS Alliance is also lobbying in the U.S. Congress for several bills with bipartisan support that would grant permanent legalization to TPS beneficiaries from dozens of countries.
Who is most at risk?
But both options require time, something Venezuelans do not seem to have in the face of the onslaught of immigration authorities to meet President Trump’s goal of deporting one million people in one year.
Fernando Romo, immigration attorney and chief legal advisor to the Association of Salvadorans of Los Angeles (ASOSAL), explains to EFE that the Venezuelans at risk of immediate detention after losing TPS are those who had a prior deportation order.
“The TPS puts a stop to the deportation orders, but when they lose the protection, this order is activated and they will surely be sought by immigration agents,” the lawyer said.
However, the jurist explains that immigrants who have lost TPS still have other options such as applying for asylum, and although these processes “are not easy to win” they represent a possibility for Venezuelans.
Filed under: TPS ends for 250,000 Venezuelans
With information from EFE
