US appeals court lets Trump continue ending deportation protections

By Blake Brittain

Feb 9 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court in California on Monday temporarily lifted a federal judge’s order that had blocked the Trump administration from ending deportation protections for nearly 89,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua.

The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals said the government could likely prove there were “legitimate” reasons to end Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from those countries and paused a California federal judge’s ruling against the administration for the duration of the appeal.

“TPS was never designed to be permanent, yet previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program for decades,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X in response to the decision. “Given the improved situation in each of these countries, we are wisely concluding what was intended to be a temporary designation.”

Attorneys and spokespeople for the National TPS Alliance, which represents the migrants, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.

TPS provides deportation relief and work permits to people already in the U.S. if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. Trump has sought to end most TPS enrollment as part of a broader effort to restrict immigration.

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson in San Francisco blocked Noem in December from ending TPS for migrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua, finding the administration failed to adequately consider conditions in the three countries that would prevent them from returning. Thompson also said the terminations may have been motivated by racial animus, citing statements from Noem and Republican President Donald Trump portraying immigrants as criminals and a drain on U.S. society.

A unanimous three-judge 9th Circuit panel said on Monday, however, that the terminations may not have been eligible for court review. The panel also said the government could likely show that Noem appropriately considered conditions in the countries before ending the migrants’ TPS.

The three judges were appointed by Trump, Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic President Bill Clinton.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; editing by Diane Craft)