Court Allows Removal of Migrants with Expiring Protected Status

A federal appeals court has sided with the Trump administration, temporarily halting a lower court's order that had protected migrants from Central America and Nepal. This decision allows the administration to proceed with removing individuals whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has expired or is set to expire.

The ruling means the administration can move forward with removing an estimated 7,000 people from Nepal whose TPS expired in August. Additionally, the TPS designations for 51,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans are scheduled to expire in September, making them eligible for removal at that time.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the emergency stay while an appeal is pending. The National TPS Alliance, the lead plaintiff, alleges that the administration acted unlawfully in ending the TPS designations for individuals from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. The court's order, issued by judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, effectively delays the lower court's decision.

Temporary Protected Status is a designation granted by the Homeland Security secretary, preventing deportation and allowing migrants to work. The Trump administration has actively sought to end this protection, increasing the number of people eligible for removal as part of a broader effort to deport immigrants.

The Secretary can extend TPS if conditions in a migrant's home country are deemed unsafe due to natural disasters, political instability, or other dangerous circumstances.

Immigrant rights advocates argue that TPS holders from Nepal have resided in the U.S. for over a decade, while those from Honduras and Nicaragua have lived in the country for 26 years, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

The administration ended the programs after determining that conditions no longer warranted protection. A lower court judge had previously kept the protections in place while the case continued, citing the administration's lack of an "objective review of the country conditions."

The Trump administration has already terminated TPS designations for hundreds of thousands of individuals from various countries. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that the administration's decisions were predetermined and motivated by racial animus.

The government argues that it suffers ongoing harm from its inability to carry out programs it deems warranted. The Honduran government expressed disappointment with the appellate decision, hoping to provide time for Hondurans to find alternative legal means to remain in the U.S.

The U.S. Supreme Court previously allowed the Trump administration to end TPS designations for Venezuelans.