A federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration’s plans and extended temporary protected status (TPS) for 60,000 people from Central America and Asia, including people from Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua. TPS is a protection that can be granted by the homeland security secretary to people of various nationalities who are in the United States, preventing them from being deported and allowing them to work.
The Trump administration has been attempting to remove this protection, resulting in more people being eligible for removal. This is part of a broader effort by the administration to carry out mass deportations of immigrants. Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem can extend TPS to immigrants in the US if conditions in their home countries are deemed unsafe to return due to natural disasters, political instability, or other dangerous conditions. Noem had previously ruled to end protections for tens of thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans, after determining that conditions in their homelands no longer warranted them.
US district judge Trina L. Thompson in San Francisco ruled to keep the protections in place while the case proceeds, without setting an expiration date. The next hearing is scheduled for November 18th. In her order, Thompson stated that the administration ended the migrant status protections without an objective review of the country conditions. This included factors such as political violence in Honduras and the impact of recent hurricanes and storms in Nicaragua.
If the protections were not extended, immigrants could face loss of employment, health insurance, separation from their families, and risk deportation to countries where they have no ties. The termination of TPS for individuals from Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua would result in a $1.4 billion loss to the economy.
Lawyers for the National TPS Alliance argued that Noem’s decisions were predetermined by President Donald Trump’s campaign promises and motivated by racial animus. Thompson agreed, stating that statements made by Noem and Trump perpetuated the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations would replace the white population. She emphasized that color is neither a poison nor a crime.
The advocacy group that filed the lawsuit stated that the designees typically have a year to leave the country, but in this case, they were given far less time. Honduras foreign minister Javier Bu Soto welcomed the ruling, stating that it recognized the petitioners’ right to live in freedom and without fear. He assured that the government would continue supporting Hondurans in the US through its consular network.
Nicaragua has witnessed a large-scale exile due to government repression, including the shutdown of nongovernmental organizations and the imprisonment of political opponents. President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-President Rosario Murillo have consolidated complete control in Nicaragua since Ortega’s return to power two decades ago.
The Republican administration’s crackdown on immigration has targeted individuals who are in the country unlawfully and removed protections for individuals who have been living and working in the US on a temporary basis. The Trump administration has already terminated protections for hundreds of thousands of individuals from countries such as Venezuela, Haiti, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Cameroon. Some of these decisions are pending lawsuits in federal courts.
The government argued that Noem has clear authority over the program and that her decisions reflect the administration’s objectives in the areas of immigration and foreign policy. Attorney William Weiland from the justice department stated that the TPS is not meant to be permanent.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/01/judge-tps-temporary-protected-status-trump-deportation
