The legal status of Venezuelan refugees living in South Dakota is uncertain following a highly anticipated ruling by the nation’s highest court this week that marks a major victory for the White House.
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for President Donald Trump's push to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly 350,000 immigrants from the South American nation that’s seen the exodus of more than 7 million Venezuelans since 2015.
While the exact number of Venezuelan arrivals to the United States settled in South Dakota is unclear, Venezuelans made up the largest share of refugees who legally arrived in the state last fall. According to the U.S. State Department's Refugee Processing Center, 26 refugees from Venezuela were reported settled in South Dakota in September 2024 alone.
The Supreme Court's unsigned order stays a March 31 ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco. He had blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's attempt to end protections for Venezuelans under a TPS designation made in 2023 by former President Joe Biden's administration.
TPS designations provide temporary humanitarian protection for people from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions that prevent safe return. DHS in January — before Biden’s departure from the White House — took the position that Venezuela continues to face humanitarian challenges under President Nicolás Maduro's government.
About 250,000 Venezuelans who received TPS in 2021 are not immediately impacted and retain their status through September 2025, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In January, under President Biden, DHS extended TPS for Venezuelans by 18 months, citing “the severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent individuals from safely returning.”
Secretary Noem reversed that policy weeks later, stating, “We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades,” according to her official remarks.
The change marked a sharp policy reversal that brought praise and criticism alike — as did Monday's ruling, which allows the Trump administration to terminate protections.
The order was issued “without prejudice” to pending challenges involving the invalidation of work permits issued with expiration dates through October 2026. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole justice to note her dissent, stating she would not have overturned the lower court’s decision that temporarily prevented the administration from revoking TPS.
Nationwide, an estimated 770,000 Venezuelan immigrants live in the United States, representing about 2 percent of the nation's immigrant population, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
