The Trump administration has fired back at a federal judge in San Francisco who stopped it from revoking deportation protections this month for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in Florida and other states, saying the judge has no authority to block the decision and that it should be addressed on an emergency basis by a higher appeals court.

In a court motion filed Tuesday, administration lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen to put his ruling on hold by Friday, so that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco can consider the revocation order issued by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February.

The administration’s goal, though not stated in the filing, would be to fast-track a review of Noem’s revocation order by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservative justices, three of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House. If the secretary’s order is ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, the Venezuelan nationals with Temporary Protected Status in the United States would not be allowed to pursue their lawsuit in San Francisco that challenges Noem’s assertion that TPS “is contrary to the national interest.”

Lawyers for the Trump administration argued that Noem has the exclusive power to revoke the Biden administration’s TPS order for Venezuelan nationals in the United States and that the plaintiffs don’t have rights under their “equal protection” argument to challenge her authority.

In their 14-page motion, the lawyers said Noem’s “determinations are immigration policies rationally related to legitimate governmental interests and were not motivated by racially discriminatory intent,” as Chen found in his ruling. They said the judge’s postponement of her order, which was to take effect Monday, “imposes irreparable injury” to the executive branch and the public, asserting that members of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua “were covered” along with other Venezuelan nationals by the Biden administration’s TPS order in 2023.

On Monday, Chen found that Noem had acted on broad generalizations and stereotypes when she revoked the work permits and deportation protections of about 350,000 Venezuelans benefiting from TPS.

“It is evident that the Secretary made sweeping negative generalizations about Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries,” the judge said in a 78-page order. “Acting on the basis of a negative group stereotype and generalizing such stereotype to the entire group is the classic example of racism.”

The judge also pointed out evidence that suggests discriminatory intent by Noem in her decision-making, with a direct connection to Trump’s actions and statements.

“President Trump made several discriminatory remarks, not only targeting Venezuelan immigrants or TPS holders but also non-white immigrants in general. His statements included derogatory comments about Haitian immigrants, TPS holders, and other non-white immigrants, such as claiming that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were ‘eating the dogs’ and making disparaging remarks about Venezuelans and other immigrants being responsible for increasing crime,” the judge noted in the ruling.

Venezuelans who sued have provided significant evidence that TPS holders and their families would suffer irreparable harm if the revocation was allowed to go forward, the judge said.

“In contrast, the government’s contention that the public interest weighs in its favor is not convincing because the government lacks any evidence of national security harms,” Chen added.

Monday’s ruling, stopping the TPS revocation while the lawsuit plays out in his court, was a blow to the Trump administration, which has targeted Venezuelans as part of its mass deportation efforts through several policies and argued that allowing people from Venezuela, which is plunged into humanitarian and political crises, into the U.S. goes against American interests.

In the ruling, Chen emphasized the social and economic contributions of Venezuelans, noting their low criminal rates, high education and labor levels, and the hundreds of millions of dollars they inject into the U.S. economy.

The decision was also a relief for the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States who were grappling with the uncertainty of returning to a country where many of them could face political persecution and repression from Nicolas Maduro’s government.

Cecilia González Herrera, 26, who lives in Kissimee, Florida, and was one of the Venezuelans who sued the Trump administration over the TPS revocation, described Monday’s ruling as a monumental victory for the Venezuelans who rely on TPS “for their security and stability.”

She told the Miami Herald she was relieved and grateful that the court recognized the urgency and seriousness of her struggle.

“This decision reaffirms that TPS is not just a policy, it is a lifeline for families like mine who have built their lives here, contributed to their communities, and cannot safely return to Venezuela.”

Days before he left office, President Joe Biden had extended TPS for Venezuela for an additional 18 months, valid until October 2026. But weeks into office, Noem revoked the TPS extension for a large group of Venezuelans on Feb. 3, effective April 7. The decision would have meant that as of Wednesday, as many as 350,000 Venezuelans, many of them living in South Florida, would have lost the ability to legally work in the U.S, and a few days later would have been vulnerable to detention and deportation.

A group of seven Venezuelans facing deportation, along with an advocacy group named the National TPS Alliance, sued the Trump administration in federal court on Feb. 19, arguing that the government’s decision to end deportation protections for Venezuelans is unlawful, politically motivated, racially discriminatory, and part of a broader pattern of bias against non-European, non-white immigrants.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, who advocated for the approval of TPS for years, thanked the U.S. justice system, the Venezuelans who sued and the lawyers who have dedicated themselves to defending the rights of her community.

“Venezuelans are not used to winning, to being recognized, but today a judge in the United States recognizes our contributions and acknowledges that the benefit of TPS should not be taken away because we have no country to return to,” she said.

More than 900,000 Venezuelans currently reside in the U.S., with more than 607,000 benefiting from TPS in two different groups with different timelines for their protection to end. It is unclear how many would be affected by the ending of TPS, because some of them area also involved in other immigration proceedings, such as petitions for political asylum.

In his ruling, the judge said termination of the TPS for the Venezuelan community would have more than just an economic impact on the United States and the local communities where TPS holders live. There would be other issues of public safety, he said, because fear of detention and deportation can cause undocumented immigrants to forego medical care, such as diagnostic testing and vaccinations, which increases health risks to the broader community.

During a hearing before Chen on March 24, Justice Department attorney Sarah L. Vuong argued that “the harms to the government are that the secretary has reviewed the issue, made a determination regarding the national interest, and has a vested interest in ensuring her orders are executed.”

The judge dismissed that argument Monday, saying “the government simply contends that the public interest weighs against postponement of the agency actions because of national security interests. But the government’s assertion that Venezuelan TPS holders pose some kind of danger to the country or the communities where they live is entirely unsubstantiated.”

The judge said he is halting to the revocation of TPS on a nationwide basis, because Homeland Security’s actions affect Venezuelan TPS holders across the country.

In his decision, Chen asked the plaintiffs to tell him within a week whether they also plan to challenge the Trump administration’s decision to roll back an extension of TPS protections for Haitians.

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