Noem to Terminate Venezuela TPS
By Joe Guzzardi
The list of misguided federal immigration policies is extensive, making it challenging to identify the most detrimental one. Among the most harmful to U.S. citizens is the H-1B visa program, which has displaced tens of thousands of skilled U.S. IT workers and denied recent college graduates fair access to high-paying, white-collar jobs. While employers claim a shortage of U.S. engineers without supporting evidence, the visa has been continuously issued for over three decades. Carter administration Labor Secretary Ray Marshall called the H-1B visa “the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the public.”
Optional Practical Training (OPT), another concerning program, lacks congressional approval yet offers employers significant benefits. OPT employees are exempt from payroll tax, providing employers roughly 8% savings per hire. The program has expanded to become the nation’s largest guestworker program, with an estimated 300,000 participants annually—far exceeding the H-1B’s 85,000 cap.
Also prominent in current headlines is Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a quasi-amnesty that under President Joe Biden’s administration expanded to include seventeen nations, including those hostile to the U.S. like Somalia, Syria, and Venezuela.
TPS prevents deportations for 18-month periods and can be renewed indefinitely. Historically, terminating the program has proved challenging. In 2017 and 2018, the first Trump administration announced plans to end TPS designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, concluding that conditions in these countries no longer warranted protected status. Honduras and Nicaragua received their original TPS designation 27 years ago following Hurricane Mitch, while El Salvador’s status dates back 24 years to a 2001 earthquake—hardly “temporary” timeframes. However, in June 2023, then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas rescinded these terminations and granted 18-month extensions for all five countries. In one of his final official acts, Mayorkas extended Venezuela’s 2023 TPS designation from April 3, 2025, through October 2, 2026.
The new DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, has given TPS critics hope for reform of the entire program. Of the estimated 600,000 Venezuelan TPS recipients currently living in the U.S., 350,000 will lose their employment authorization documents when their designations expire in April. The remaining 250,000, whose authorizations expire in September, will also see their TPS and employment privileges terminated under Noem’s direction.
The Federal Register’s notice regarding these changes highlighted how TPS has enabled thousands of inadmissible aliens to settle in the U.S., straining local resources and maxing out city shelters, police stations, and aid services. DHS also noted the increased presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), a state-sponsored transnational criminal organization now active in at least seventeen states.
The notice cited the “potential magnetic effect” of anticipated 18-month extensions on illegal immigration. “The anticipated designation or extension for TPS and resulting benefit to access [work authorization documents] have been pull factors driving Venezuelan nationals to the United States.” Given President Trump’s January 20 executive orders, Secretary Noem determined that extending Venezuela’s 2023 TPS designation “is in fact contrary to the national interest.” DHS noted that while some challenging conditions persist in Venezuela, improvements in the economy, public health, and crime now allow for safe repatriation.
Though the State Department reissued a Level Four “Do Not Travel” Advisory for Venezuela in September 2024, U.S.-Venezuela relations show signs of improvement. Venezuela has agreed to accept deported illegal aliens, including TdA gang members, and President Nicolas Maduro released six American detainees. Over the past decade, more than 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled their country, creating one of the world’s largest migration crises. Regarding DHS’s immigration agenda under her leadership, Noem stated simply: “We’ve just gotten started.”
Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org
