Trump administration ends extended protections for Venezuelans in US, official says

FILE PHOTO: Kristi Noem, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of Homeland Security nominee, testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration has ended extended protections granted to thousands of Venezuelans in the United States and is in talks to repatriate them, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday, adding that using Guantanamo Bay had not been ruled out.

Noem said the Department of Homeland Security would not follow a Biden-era move that gave Venezuelans in the Temporary Protected Status program an additional 18 months of deportation relief and access to work permits, telling Fox News in an interview: "We stopped that."