Ninth Circuit Temporarily Halts TPS Relief, Aiding Trump Administration’s Immigration Policy
In a significant legal victory for the Trump administration’s immigration policies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has granted a temporary stay in a lawsuit challenging the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal.
The ruling, issued on August 20, allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to move forward with revoking these protections.
The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel puts on hold a lower court’s order from July 31, which had postponed the termination of TPS. The case, National TPS Alliance v. Noem, centers on the administration’s effort to end a program that has allowed individuals from countries affected by conflict or natural disaster to live and work in the U.S. for years, in some cases for over two decades.
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DHS Hails Ruling as Victory for ‘Rule of Law’
The Department of Homeland Security immediately celebrated the court’s decision, framing it as a crucial step toward restoring “integrity” to the nation’s immigration system. In a statement released on August 20, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declared, “This is yet another huge legal victory for the Trump Administration, the rule of law, safety of the American public.” She emphasized that the TPS program was intended to be temporary and was never meant to function as a “de facto asylum system.”
McLaughlin also argued that previous administrations had used TPS to allow “hundreds of thousands of foreigners into the country without proper vetting,” and that the unanimous decision would help ensure the “homeland and its people safe.” This language reflects the administration’s broader push to restrict immigration and increase deportations.
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The Ninth Circuit’s order grants the government’s request for a stay pending the appeal’s outcome, citing the factors that govern such decisions, as outlined in the Supreme Court case Nken v. Holder. By staying the lower court’s ruling, the appellate court has paused a decision that found DHS’s termination of TPS to be “likely preordained” and motivated by “racial animus.”
While the court granted the stay on the postponement, it denied the government’s separate motion to halt all proceedings in the district court, stating that “management of the docket is within the discretion of the district court.” This means the lawsuit will continue to move forward, even as the TPS terminations take effect.
The ruling has immediate consequences. For Nepali TPS holders, whose legal status expired on August 5, the protections are now officially terminated. The approximately 54,000 Honduran and Nicaraguan TPS holders, whose protections were set to expire on September 8, now face the same reality. This has left thousands of families in a state of uncertainty, with their legal work status and protection from deportation now at risk.
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The Ninth Circuit has suspended the previous briefing schedule and instructed both parties to propose new schedules within seven days of a decision in a related case, also titled National TPS Alliance v. Noem (No. 25-2120). This signals the court’s intent to consider the two cases in a coordinated manner, as they both address the administration’s efforts to end TPS for different groups of migrants.
The National TPS Alliance and other plaintiffs, including the ACLU, have argued that the administration’s decision to terminate TPS violates the law and is based on a predetermined agenda rather than an objective review of country conditions. While this temporary ruling is a setback, the broader legal challenge continues, with the possibility of the case being elevated to the Supreme Court.
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