Thousands of Venezuelans Receive 24-Hour Extension to Re-register for TPS After Alleged Website Failure

Venezuelan nationals who were unable to re-register for Temporary Protected Status received an additional 24 hours to complete the process after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to extend the deadline. The extension followed reports that the government website had crashed on the final day of the re-registration period due to a technical issue.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end legal protections for more than 1 million immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti. The ruling allows those affected to continue living and working in the United States under protected status.

According to the Miami Herald, Chen ordered the federal government to reopen the enrollment portal for at least one more day to give individuals the opportunity to apply for deportation protection and work permits. The judge also directed the Department of Homeland Security to activate the site within two business days and provide at least four hours' notice before going live.

The decision came after TPS holders and their attorneys reported being unable to complete re-registration before the Sept. 10 deadline because Venezuela was no longer listed as an eligible country on the portal.

As of Friday morning, the Herald reported that the DHS website still did not reflect the judge's order. Instead, a prominent banner cited a Supreme Court decision from May that overturned a preliminary injunction Judge Chen had issued in March to preserve the protections. Chen gave DHS until 5 p.m. Friday to update the website to reflect that the Biden-era extension remains in effect.

Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a federal program that allows nationals from certain countries to live and work in the U.S. when returning to their home country would be unsafe due to conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions. TPS for Venezuelans was first granted in 2021 by the Biden administration in response to the country's deepening humanitarian crisis, characterized by political instability, severe shortages of food and medicine, and unsafe living conditions.

Since returning to office in January, President Donald Trump and senior administration officials have moved to roll back these protections. According to court filings cited by the Associated Press, the administration has revoked TPS and humanitarian parole designations for about 1.5 million people. These actions have prompted a wave of lawsuits from immigrant rights organizations across the country.

The original re-registration deadline was Sept. 10. However, multiple immigration attorneys in South Florida told the Herald that they were unable to re-register clients, and argued that DHS had failed to comply with Chen's order.

"It is clearly illegal and a major concern," said Emi MacLean, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union and legal counsel for the Venezuelan plaintiffs.

In addition to ordering the portal to reopen, Judge Chen directed the Trump administration to update its immigration services website to clearly state that roughly 600,000 Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status are legally authorized to live and work in the United States.

According to the Associated Press, attorneys representing the plaintiffs said some TPS holders remain in detention centers or unable to return to their jobs until their legal status is properly reflected online.