By Ginika Igboke
A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that the Trump administration may move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua, temporarily lifting a lower court order that had blocked the terminations.
In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals paused a prior ruling by a federal judge in California who had halted the administration’s effort and suggested the decision may have been motivated by racial bias.
Nearly 89,000 immigrants from the three countries currently hold TPS, which allows them to live and work in the United States while shielding them from deportation.
“TPS was never designed to be permanent, yet previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program for decades,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a Feb. 9 post on X.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson had blocked the TPS terminations in December, citing remarks by Noem and President Donald Trump, as well as arguing that the administration failed to adequately consider country conditions that could prevent safe returns.
The appeals court disagreed, finding that the federal government is likely to show legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for ending TPS for nationals of Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The panel also said the administration likely did consider conditions in the three countries before making its decision.
“A win for the rule of law and vindication for the U.S. Constitution,” Noem said following the ruling. She argued that TPS had been misused in the past to allow individuals posing public safety and national security risks to remain in the country.
The appeals court emphasized that the TPS statute authorizes the secretary of Homeland Security to designate protected status when a country’s nationals cannot safely return because of armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. The law also allows the secretary to periodically review conditions and terminate the designation if those conditions no longer exist, provided notice is published in the Federal Register.
“Given the improved situation in each of these countries, we are wisely concluding what was intended to be a temporary designation,” Noem said.
Nepal was granted TPS following a devastating earthquake in 2015 that killed nearly 9,000 people. Honduras and Nicaragua received TPS after Hurricane Mitch in 1999, which caused widespread destruction and at least 10,000 deaths across Central America.
The appeals court ruling marks a significant victory for the Trump administration as it continues to pursue stricter immigration enforcement nationwide.
The administration has also sought to end TPS for an estimated 300,000 Haitian nationals living in the United States. A federal judge ruled last week that the termination for Haiti violated federal law, and the Trump administration has appealed that decision.
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