Page 13 - Venezuela

Judge blocks move to revoke protected status for some Venezuelans

An estimated 5,000 Venezuelans granted temporary protected status can continue to work and live in the US despite a Supreme Court ruling revoking protections while their lawsuit against the Trump administration is pending. US District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Friday that Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was extended to October 2026 are not affected by the Supreme Court's order and are not eligible for deportation. The Supreme Court last month gave the go-ahead for the Republican administration to strip TPS from an estimated 350,000 Venezuelans that would have expired in April. In doing so, the court put on hold Chen's order blocking the administration from revoking protections granted under President Joe Biden. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals. But they singled out applicants who had received work authorisation and other paperwork with new expiration dates of October 2, 2026. Chen said at a hearing Friday that the

Venezuela bans flights from Colombia following arrests in anti-govt plot

Venezuela on Monday banned the arrival of flights from neighboring Colombia after authorities detained more than 30 people who were allegedly plotting activities to destabilize the country ahead of Sunday's election. The arrests were announced just as an independent panel of experts backed by the Organization of American States released a report documenting serious human rights abuses in Venezuela as the government tightened its grip on dissent after the July 28 presidential election. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on state television said the flight ban was immediate and would last beyond Sunday, when voters across the country are expected to elect governors and National Assembly members. But Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said Venezuela's government had notified it that flights would resume the day after the election. Cabello said the anti-government plans involved placing explosives at embassies and other facilities in Venezuela. He said authorities had

Venezuela denies opposition fled country under international rescue effort

Venezuela's government has acknowledged for the first time that members of the country's opposition left the Argentine diplomatic compound where they had sheltered for over a year, but it denied that their arrival to the United States occurred under an international rescue operation as characterized by the political faction and the US State Department. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Wednesday that the group's movements were negotiated with the government and further alleged that one of the six people who entered the Argentine ambassador's residence in March left the compound in August, contradicting earlier statements from the opposition. Cabello's statements came more than 24 hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on social media that the opposition members were on US soil after a "successful rescue". The government of Argentine President Javier Milei allowed the six people into the ambassador's residence when authorities loyal to Venezuela's

Trump govt asks SC to strip legal protections from 350K Venezuelan migrants

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to strip temporary legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to being deported. The Justice Department asked the high court to put on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans that would have otherwise expired last month. A federal appeals court had earlier rejected the administration's request. President Donald Trump's administration has moved aggressively to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the country, including ending TPS for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. TPS is granted in 18-month increments to people already in the US whose countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife.

Venezuelan detainees ask US Supreme Court to halt El Salvador deportations

Lawyers for the men filed their requests less than two weeks after the Supreme Court let Trump resume trying to deport alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798

US intel refutes Trump claim linking gang to Venezuela to aid deportations

A new US intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to US officials. The classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council, released this month, is more comprehensive and authoritative than an earlier intelligence product released Feb. 26 and reported last month by The New York Times, according to two US officials familiar with the assessment. They were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The new assessment draws input from the 18 agencies that comprise the intelligence community. It repeatedly stated that Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a prison in Venezuela, is not coordinated with or supported by the country's president, Nicols Maduro, or senior officials in the Venezuelan government. While .

Trump officials likely in contempt over Venezuela deportations, says judge

US District Judge James Boasberg issued an order saying that officials acted in "willful disregard" of his verbal order on March 15 to turn around planes carrying Venezuelans

US Supreme Court allows Trump admin to deport Venezuelans under wartime law

The 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court states that Venezuelan migrants must be given an opportunity to challenge their deportation before being removed from the US

US judge halts Trump admin plans to end legal protection for Venezuelans

A federal judge on Monday paused plans by the Trump administration to end temporary legal protection for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, a week before they were scheduled to expire. The order by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco is a relief for 350,000 Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was scheduled to expire April 7. The lawsuit was filed by lawyers for the National TPS Alliance and TPS holders across the country. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also announced the end of TPS for an estimated 250,000 additional Venezuelans in September. Chen said in his ruling that the action by Noem threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States. He said the government had failed to identify any real countervailing harm in ...

Trump asks SC for permission to resume deporting Venezuelan migrants

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law, while a court fight continues. The emergency appeal to the high court follows a rejection of the Republican administration's plea to the federal appeals court in Washington. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of appellate judges left in place an order temporarily prohibiting deportations of the migrants under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act The Justice Department argued in court papers that federal courts shouldn't interfere with sensitive diplomatic negotiations. It also claimed that migrants should make their case in a federal court in Texas, where they are being detained. The order temporarily blocking the deportations was issued by US District Judge James E Boasberg, the chief judge at the federal courthouse in Washington. President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II to justi

Venezuela increases oil exports to China as US secondary tariff tightens

Venezuela's oil industry is facing its biggest threat since the first Trump administration essentially banned US imports of oil from the country in 2019

Reliance pauses buying of Venezuelan oil after Trump authorises 25% tariff

Reliance secured waivers from the US last year to resume importing crude from Venezuela, and Kpler estimates the refiner has taken 6.5 million barrels since the start of the year

Trump diktat to lengthen OVL's quest to repatriate Venezuela dividend

ONGC's overseas arm had applied for a sanctions waiver to access $500 million dividend from two Venezuelan projects

'Nazis treated better than Venezuelans deported by Trump admin': US judge

A US judge blasted the Trump administration, stating that Nazis had more legal rights to contest removal than Venezuelans deported under a rarely used 18th-century law

Trump announces 25% tariff on Venezuelan oil: What's at stake for India?

US President Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on countries buying Venezuelan oil and gas, effective April 2, applying to both direct and indirect buyers of Venezuelan crude

Donald Trump's threat of 'secondary tariffs' creates new trade weapon

The threat, delivered via Truth Social post then confirmed in an executive order, said countries could face 25 per cent tariffs on trade with the US if they purchase oil and gas from Venezuela

Venezuela pledges to free those deported to El Salvador jail: Official

President Donald Trump's administration deported 238 Venezuelans over the weekend, accusing them of membership of the Tren de Aragua gang

President Trump's lawyers keep judge in dark on Venezuelan deportation data

US District Judge James Boasberg convened a hearing Monday to press Justice Department lawyers for answers about whether the deportations took place after he'd issued an order Saturday not to do so

Trump admin deports hundreds of immigrants despite judge's orders to pause

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling. US District Judge James E Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order. OopsieToo late, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally who agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country's prisons, wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg's ruling. That post was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung. Secretar

US poised to order more companies to cease operations in Venezuela

Stopping the companies from working in Venezuela will be a blow to the nation's beleaguered economy, putting pressure on Maduro as Trump pushes for a deal over democratic reforms