The reinstatement of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans in the United States, scheduled for this Friday, has been suspended after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its own decision on Tuesday and granted the Trump administration a 14-day administrative stay on the order that would have reactivated the protections.
According to a report from Bloomberg Law, the shift is particularly striking because the same panel of three judges had unanimously rejected, on October 30, the government's request to keep the order by District Judge Edward M. Chen blocked, and even denied an additional administrative pause of at least 21 days that Washington requested as an alternative.
Just four days later, that same court changed its stance. According to Bloomberg Law, the panel indicated that it would grant an administrative stay of 14 days starting this Friday, November 6, which extends the uncertainty until approximately November 20.
The practical result is immediate: the more than 627,000 Venezuelans affected —according to data from the Department of Homeland Security from June 2026— will not regain on Friday the protection against deportation or the work authorization that they would have obtained with the reinstatement of TPS.
The pause does not resolve the underlying dispute nor definitively cancel the program. It is a procedural measure that keeps the district court's order on hold while the Ninth Circuit assesses whether to grant a longer suspension during the appeal, as explained by El Cronista in its coverage of the case.
The litigation, known as National TPS Alliance v. Noem/Mullin, originates from the decisions made by the then Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who in January and February of 2025 revoked the extension of Venezuelan TPS approved by the Biden administration and terminated the 2023 designation.
Judge Chen declared those actions illegal in September 2025, but the Supreme Court blocked his order months later through its so-called shadow docket.
As El Cronista warned, "the Venezuelans affected by this case will have to wait for new legal actions to find out if the protections will be restored."
In October 2026, the Supreme Court applied the precedent set in Mullin v. Doe—decided by a six-to-three vote in June of that year, which limits judicial review of Department of Homeland Security decisions regarding TPS—to the Venezuelan case, overturning the favorable ruling of the Ninth Circuit and sending the case back for reconsideration.
It was then that, on October 30, the appeals court opened the way for the restoration on November 6, a decision that is now on hold.
The Venezuelan community in South Florida, particularly concentrated in Doral, is the most affected by this new delay.
Without active TPS, beneficiaries lack formal protection against deportation and cannot renew their work permits while the suspension is in place.
The next steps depend on what happens before the 14 days expire: the Ninth Circuit will need to decide whether to extend the stay during the appeal, either party may appeal to the Supreme Court, or Judge Chen's order could come back into effect if there is no new judicial intervention.
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