“On January 17, 2025, Secretary Mayorkas issued a notice extending the 2023 designation of Venezuela for TPS for 18 months. The notice was based on then Secretary Mayorkas’s January 10, 2025 determination that the conditions for the designation continued to be met. See INA 244(b)(3)(A), (C), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(3)(A), (C). In the January 2025 notice, Secretary Mayorkas did not expressly extend or terminate the 2021 Venezuela designation. Instead, the notice allowed for a consolidation of filing processes such that all eligible Venezuela TPS beneficiaries (whether under the 2021 or 2023 designations) could obtain TPS through the same extension date of October 2, 2026,” the DHS memo said.
“On January 28, 2025, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem vacated former Secretary Mayorkas’s January 10, 2025 decision, restoring the status quo that preceded that decision,” it said.
Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to reinstate a Florida law that would have allowed officials there to prosecute migrants who entered the state illegally.
The court did not explain its ruling, which also noted the absence of any dissenting opinions. The order was issued in response to an emergency application.
Florida’s immigration law, SB 4-C, criminalizes entering the state after illegally entering the U.S. and evading immigration authorities. Last year, the Supreme Court allowed a similar law in Texas to take effect.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama appointee, issued an indefinite injunction against the law, finding it likely preempted by federal immigration law and unconstitutional.
Florida appealed to the Supreme Court last month after a three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction.
