A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected this Friday the Trump administration's request to keep the temporary immigration protection for Venezuelans in the United States suspended, clearing the way for the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to be reinstated on November 6.
The decision, published in case 25-5724, was signed by judges Kim McLane Wardlaw, Salvador Mendoza Jr., and Anthony D. Johnstone. The court not only denied the government's main request but also rejected its alternative petition for an administrative stay of at least 21 days, announcing that it will establish an expedited schedule to examine the merits of the litigation.
The lawyer Jessica Banzel, from the National TPS Alliance, explained the scope of the ruling: “The Ninth Circuit issued an order that will restore TPS for Venezuela starting November 6, unless the Supreme Court intervenes.”
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The suspension that is now expiring was imposed by the Supreme Court in October 2025, when the highest court inexplicably blocked — through its so-called "shadow docket" — a ruling from the Northern District Court of California that had declared the decisions of then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to terminate Venezuelan TPS illegal.
On October 5, 2026, the Supreme Court applied the precedent Mullin v. Doe —resolved in June of that year with a six to three vote— to the Venezuelan case, overturned the favorable ruling from the Ninth Circuit, and returned the case for reconsideration. On the same day, the government requested the Ninth Circuit to maintain the existing suspension; the court rejected this request on Friday.
The blow to the Venezuelan TPS resulting from that Supreme Court decision left hundreds of thousands of people in a state of extreme migratory vulnerability for weeks.
If TPS is reinstated on November 6, the protections would cover those who were protected under the 2023 designation, as well as Venezuelans with TPS under the 2021 designation who applied to extend their status according to the extension of January 17, 2025. According to data from the Department of Homeland Security as of June 2026, there are 627,750 Venezuelan beneficiaries of the program.
The reinstatement, however, is not definitive. The litigation continues, and the Supreme Court could intervene again before November 6 to suspend the order once more. The National TPS Alliance has warned that it will remain vigilant to any new judicial actions.
"This means that, unless the Supreme Court intervenes, TPS for Venezuela will be reinstated on November 6," the organization summarized, concluding its statement with a message of encouragement to the Venezuelan community: "Our struggle continues. Only the people save the people."
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