President Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to intervene in its bid to strip temporary protected status for more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants, a move that would clear the way for their deportation.
The Justice Department asked the justices to put on hold a federal judge's order that halted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's decision to terminate the temporary legal status that previously was granted to some Venezuelans.
"So long as the order is in effect, (Noem) must permit hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals to remain in the country, notwithstanding her reasoned determination that doing so is 'contrary to the national interest,'" Justice Department lawyers wrote in court papers.
The Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, program is available to people who cannot return safely to their home country due to natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event.
The administration's request came in a lawsuit by a group that includes several Venezuelans living in the United States and the National TPS Alliance, which advocates for immigrants who have been granted temporary protected status.
The Supreme Court directed the challengers to respond to the administration's request by May 8.
The lawsuit challenged Noem's decision in February to terminate one portion of the TPS designation for Venezuela, reversing an action by Trump's predecessor Democratic President Joe Biden's administration to extend the temporary protections for nationals of that country, which had been in place since 2021.
Justice Department lawyers in their Supreme Court filing said the court had "wrested control of the nation's immigration policy away from the Executive Branch."
"The court's order contravenes fundamental Executive Branch prerogatives and indefinitely delays sensitive policy decisions in an area of immigration policy that Congress recognized must be flexible, fast-paced, and discretionary," they wrote.
A federal appeals court on April 18 declined the administration's request to pause the judge's order.