Judge stops Trump administration from ending protections for 60,000 people from Central America and Nepal

 San Francisco, August 1 — A federal judge has ruled to continue Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for around 60,000 immigrants from countries including Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua, temporarily halting the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke their legal protections and deport them.

TPS is a program that allows immigrants from countries facing natural disasters, political instability, or other unsafe conditions to live and work legally in the U.S. The Trump administration had tried to cancel these protections as part of a broader push for mass deportations.

U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson decided to keep TPS protections in place while the case continues in court. The next hearing is scheduled for November 18. Her ruling criticized the administration for failing to properly assess conditions in the affected countries, such as ongoing violence in Honduras and recent hurricanes in Nicaragua.

Had the protections been removed, tens of thousands of people—including 7,000 Nepalis—would have faced job loss, separation from families, loss of health insurance, and deportation to countries many haven’t lived in for decades.

Judge Thompson wrote that ending TPS would not only hurt families but also cost the U.S. economy an estimated $1.4 billion. She accused the administration of acting on racially biased motives rather than factual assessments of safety and humanitarian need.

“The plaintiffs are simply asking for the chance to live without fear and to pursue the American dream,” Thompson wrote. “Instead, they are told to leave because of their race or background.”

Advocacy groups argued that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decisions were influenced by former President Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric. Thompson agreed, noting past statements from both Trump and Noem that suggested certain immigrant groups were seen as a threat to the white population.

“The color of one’s skin is not a crime,” the judge stated.

Officials from Honduras and immigrant advocates welcomed the ruling as a much-needed relief, though they expect the legal battle to continue for some time.

In Nicaragua, the situation remains grim, with increasing political repression. The government there has shut down civil society groups and jailed opposition figures, prompting mass exodus.

The ruling comes amid a wider push by Trump-era officials to remove TPS protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries like Venezuela, Haiti, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Cameroon. Many of those terminations are still being challenged in court.

The U.S. Justice Department maintains that Noem acted within her legal authority, arguing that TPS was always intended to be a temporary measure.