DHS Plans to Revoke TPS for Over 75,000 Immigrants amid Legal Battles

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 75,000 individuals, affecting immigrants from Afghanistan and Cameroon. The decision comes after a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that enabled the administration to phase out protections granted to approximately 11,700 Afghans and 5,200 Cameroonians, despite the legal challenges posed by CASA, an immigration advocacy organization. Although CASA has made claims that there are valid concerns regarding safety for these groups, the court maintained that there is not enough evidence to prevent the government from moving forward with its plan.

The court recently advised that a lower court should speed up its evaluation of CASA's case after temporarily blocking the Trump administration's plans to end TPS for Afghans for a brief period. With the administration aiming to conclude TPS for Afghans immediately and for Cameroonians in the coming weeks, apprehensions about the implications for those affected have been voiced loudly. AfghanEvac, an organization assisting Afghan relocations, expressed significant concern, warning that the ruling will lead to family separations and pose severe risks for individuals who could be deported or forced to hide due to legal uncertainties.

The Trump administration has long sought to curtail TPS, asserting that it was necessary for the program to remain temporary, given the purportedly improving safety conditions in both Afghanistan and Cameroon. While the administration claims that Afghanistan's situation has stabilized after the Taliban takeover, the State Department continues to issue warnings about travel to both countries due to ongoing risks such as civil unrest and terrorism. CASA, however, contends that conditions in these nations remain perilous for TPS recipients, pointing to the humanitarian crisis in Cameroon and the continued repression in Afghanistan.

Critics of the administration’s decision argue that there are underlying racial biases influencing the push to eliminate TPS for those from countries with predominantly non-white populations, while extending opportunities to migrants from predominantly white countries. Meanwhile, the administration's attempts to terminate TPS for hundreds of thousands of other migrants from countries including Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti are ongoing, with recent Supreme Court rulings favoring the government's position on TPS for Venezuelan migrants.