Federal Court Blocks Efforts to Terminate TPS

Federal Court Blocks Trump’s Efforts to Terminate Temporary Protected Status for 250,000 Recipients

Just weeks ahead of thousands of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders beginning to lose their immigration status, a federal court in California blocked the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the TPS designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. At least for now, this unexpected lifeline will temporarily protect hundreds of thousands of TPS holders from the risk of deportation, allowing them to continue to live lawfully in the United States.

In March 2018, TPS holders and U.S. citizen children of TPS beneficiaries filed a class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California to challenge the four termination decisions made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at that time. Between October 2017 and January 2018, DHS had terminated status for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan. Two countries that were later terminated are not included in the litigation; Nepal and Honduras were terminated in May and June 2018, respectively.

DHS delayed the effective date of these decisions by 12 or 18 months, but those terminations were about to take effect. Approximately 1,000 nationals of Sudan were set to lose status on November 4, with roughly 2,500 Nicaraguans soon to follow on January 5, 2019.  Nearly 250,000 nationals of Haiti and El Salvador were due to lose their TPS next summer.