SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to update the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website to reflect that roughly 600,000 Venezuelans with temporary protected status are legally allowed to live and work in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said his Sept. 5 ruling in favor of plaintiffs who challenged the rescission of TPS extensions took effect immediately and that the government must ensure the public-facing immigration website reflects that reality. Plaintiffs' attorneys had told the court that TPS holders remained in detention or were being denied rehire because the website and related federal systems had not been corrected.
Chen's Sept. 5 decision found that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unlawfully canceled temporary protected status extensions that had been granted by the Biden administration for about 1.1 million Venezuelans and Haitians. TPS is a discretionary designation by the Homeland Security secretary that allows people already in the United States to remain and obtain work authorization when conditions in their home countries — such as natural disasters, political instability or other dangers — make return unsafe.
The Department of Justice, representing the administration, told the court that Chen had not specifically ordered the government to update the website and argued in filings that the Sept. 5 judgment did not automatically take effect unless the judge so directed. DOJ attorney William Weiland pressed that the rule the plaintiffs relied on did not apply to this situation. Chen rejected that position in his order and earlier on Wednesday denied the government's request to stay his Sept. 5 judgment while it pursues an appeal.
Plaintiffs' lawyers said the failure to update the website was producing immediate harms. Court declarations submitted by plaintiffs included a statement that a man detained in San Antonio since May was told he would not be released until the USCIS site and related records were corrected. Another declaration came from a TPS holder who has worked at an Amazon warehouse for three years and said human resources personnel informed the worker that a copy of the Sept. 5 court order and a letter from an immigration attorney were not sufficient to reauthorize employment.
The dispute centers in part on the practical role of the USCIS website and federal databases in communicating an individual's lawful status to employers, detention officials and other agencies. Plaintiffs argued the website update is necessary to prevent wrongful detentions and job losses for people the court found remain legally protected. Chen's orders have pressed the government to ensure operational systems reflect the court's rulings.
The administration has appealed Chen's Sept. 5 decision, and the litigation is expected to continue through appellate courts. The judge's directive to update public-facing information aims to mitigate immediate harms that plaintiffs said arose while the government pursues legal review.
The case highlights tensions between executive decisions on immigration policy, the discretion granted to the Homeland Security secretary over TPS, and the courts' ability to enjoin or reverse administrative actions. It also underscores how administrative records and websites can affect individual liberty and employment in real time when policy changes are contested in court.
As the appeal proceeds, plaintiffs' attorneys and some affected TPS holders will press for implementation of Chen's orders to restore work authorization and prevent further detentions. The Justice Department said it is representing the government in the appeal; it has argued that implementation questions should await the outcome of the appellate process.