Kaine Leads Colleagues in Calling on Trump Administration to Reinstate Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, led 18 of his colleagues in urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to reconsider the Trump Administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans who applied for TPS under its designation in 2023. The Administration’s decision has been temporarily put on hold by a court order, postponing the harm it will cause to approximately 350,000 people who remain at risk of losing TPS.
“Contrary to your assertion that ‘there are notable improvements in several areas, such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned,’ the country conditions in Venezuela have deteriorated significantly since 2023, as discussed in detail below,” the senators wrote. “There is no credible evidence demonstrating substantive improvements in the human rights or security situation at this time. Nicolas Maduro’s third term began in January 2025 and has thus far has been characterized by political violence, violent crime, and corruption. Indeed, he remained in power through violent repression surrounding his July 2024 election, which the United States and international observers deemed fraudulent. Numerous credible sources have documented how the regime uses waves of repression, including politically motivated arrests and forcible disappearances, to maintain power. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Maduro regime was holding over 1,000 political prisoners as of March 10, 2025.”
“For the reasons discussed above, we ask that you reconsider your February 1, 2025 decision and instead extend TPS for Venezuelans in the United States for the maximum statutory period of 18 months. Congress intended TPS to be both a humanitarian tool and a pragmatic response to unstable conditions abroad,” they continued.
Kaine has long advocated for TPS for vulnerable people from countries around the world, such as Cameroon, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan, and Ukraine. Amid spiking violence in Haiti in 2024, Kaine also urged the Biden Administration to extend TPS for Haiti and urged the Trump Administration to reconsider the cancelation of this designation in 2025.
In addition to Kaine, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Peter Welch (D-VT).
Full text of the letter follows below and is available here.
Dear Secretary Rubio and Secretary Noem:
We ask that you reconsider your February 1, 2025 decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans who applied for TPS under the 2023 designation. While a court order has temporarily postponed the harms that will be caused by this decision, approximately 350,000 people remain at risk of losing TPS.
Contrary to your assertion that “there are notable improvements in several areas, such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned,” the country conditions in Venezuela have deteriorated significantly since 2023, as discussed in detail below.
There is no credible evidence demonstrating substantive improvements in the human rights or security situation at this time. Nicolas Maduro’s third term began in January 2025 and has thus far has been characterized by political violence, violent crime, and corruption. Indeed, he remained in power through violent repression surrounding his July 2024 election, which the United States and international observers deemed fraudulent. Numerous credible sources have documented how the regime uses waves of repression, including politically motivated arrests and forcible disappearances, to maintain power. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Maduro regime was holding over 1,000 political prisoners as of March 10, 2025.
Through draconian legal measures and organized violence, the Maduro regime is engaging in an active campaign to violate human rights and repress civil society. For example, the National Assembly passed an “anti-NGO law” that provides legal pretext for targeting human rights defenders, political opposition, and journalists. In this environment, organized crime and humanitarian crisis have grown.
Governance in Venezuela has broken down, leaving the basic needs of its citizens unmet – sufficient food, clean water, and medicines are inaccessible for most. The United Nations World Food Program estimates that approximately 40 percent of the population is experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity, and that four million people require urgent food assistance. The Venezuelan government is unable or unwilling to provide justice or protection for its citizens. In fact, the government of Venezuela is frequently itself a perpetrator or beneficiary of human rights abuses.
The current conditions in Venezuela described above clearly continue to meet the requirement of INA §244(b)(1)(C) that “there exist extraordinary and temporary conditions in the foreign state that prevent aliens who are nationals of the state from returning to the state in safety.” Insofar as you have found that “even assuming the relevant conditions in Venezuela remain both ‘extraordinary’ and ‘temporary,’ termination of the 2023 Venezuela TPS designation is required because it is contrary to the national interest,” the lack of notice and opportunity for stakeholders and the public to comment on the termination and the national interest before it went into effect makes your decision legally infirm and deeply flawed policy-wise.
On March 31, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered that the decision to vacate the extension of the 2023 designation and to terminate that designation be postponed pending further litigation. In a seventy-eight-page decision, the court relied on “[t]he lack of support for the vacatur – both legal and evidentiary” in postponing your decision.
For the reasons discussed above, we ask that you reconsider your February 1, 2025 decision and instead extend TPS for Venezuelans in the United States for the maximum statutory period of 18 months. Congress intended TPS to be both a humanitarian tool and a pragmatic response to unstable conditions abroad. While DHS has the authority to terminate TPS, that authority must be exercised with diligence, transparency, and fidelity to the law.
Sincerely,
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