Overview

• On August 1, U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson enjoined the Trump administration’s plan to end Temporary Protected Status for about 61,000 nationals of Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal, keeping their deportation protection and work authorizations in place until at least November 18.
• In a 37-page order Thompson cited remarks by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump portraying migrants as “invaders” and warned they reflected discriminatory intent violating the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections.
• Homeland Security had concluded that conditions in the three countries had improved sufficiently since Hurricane Mitch and Nepal’s 2015 earthquake to end TPS, but the judge found the decision arbitrary and prejudged.
• Created by bipartisan legislation in 1990, the TPS program currently shields more than 1.1 million people; this class includes roughly 51,000 Hondurans, 7,200 Nepalese and 2,900 Nicaraguans awaiting the court’s final ruling.
• The administration has signaled plans to appeal Thompson’s decision as the case moves toward a merits hearing on November 18 to determine the scope of executive authority over humanitarian protections.