Court of Appeals Clears Path for Trump Administration to End TPS

Temporary Protected Status, or “TPS,” has long been targeted by the Trump Administration as a program it would like to terminate. TPS is available to nationals of certain countries that the Department of Homeland Security has designated as a country to which it is not safe to return or which cannot handle the return of their citizens. In 2018, the government attempted to end TPS for nationals of Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. The government also attempted to end TPS for Nepal and Honduras. A court prevented the government from ending TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. After that ruling came down, the government also paused its plans to end TPS for Nepal and Honduras while they appealed the court’s decision. 

The government appealed the order causing them to postpone ending TPS for the above-mentioned countries to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, the Ninth Circuit held that even though there was evidence that Trump displayed racial animus toward non-white, non-European immigrants, there was no evidence that he sought to influence phasing out TPS. Therefore, barring Supreme Court intervention, the administration is now free to proceed with its plans to phase out TPS. 

The government has not yet issued guidance regarding how it plans to implement phasing out TPS. However, you can check this page on the USCIS website for updates. If you have TPS and are curious how this will impact you, please call or email us.