A federal appeals court has blocked an effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to end special protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States.

On Friday, a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling, which kept in place Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. The status will remain in place as the legal challenges proceed through the courts.

Before leaving office, the Biden administration had extended TPS for about 600,000 Venezuelans through October 2026.

The Trump administration has sought to end the extension, meaning that the status would expire for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans, who were initially granted protection in 2023, in April of this year, and for approximately 250,000 Venezuelans, who were initially granted the status in 2021, by September.

That would leave those affected unable to legally work and vulnerable to deportation.

US District Judge Edward Chen had previously ruled in March that plaintiffs challenging the end of the protection were likely to prevail on their claim that the administration overstepped its authority.

Lawyers for affected Venezuelans had argued the administration had been motivated by racial animus.

At the time, Chen ordered a freeze on the termination. However, the Supreme Court reversed the ruling in an emergency appeal, temporarily allowing the administration to move forward in cancelling the status.

Congress created Temporary Protected Status as part of the Immigration Act of 1990.

It allows the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant legal immigration status to individuals fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disasters, or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to their home country.

The Trump administration has increasingly targeted TPS recipients in its hardline approach to immigration, moving to terminate the programme for citizens of Haiti, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras and Nicaragua.

While the administration has the authority to choose not to renew TPS, several courts have ruled against efforts to change already designated timelines.

In Friday’s ruling, the judges wrote: “In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics”.