A group of immigrants affected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision to end their right to live in the country is suing the government body and its secretary, Kristi Noem.
Seven defendants from the impacted nations, which include Nicaragua, Honduras and Nepal, with the support of advocacy group the National TPS Alliance, filed the lawsuit claiming the discontinuation of their temporary protected status (TPS) was partially motivated by racial discrimination and in violation of the Constitution.
The lawsuit also alleges the government disregarded country conditions and instead relied on a predetermined political decision to dismantle the TPS program.
Lastly, the case challenges the government’s refusal to provide a more extended “orderly transition” or “wind-down” period to TPS holders who have lived in the U.S. for decades.
Noem announced Monday that her department would end TPS granted to people living in the U.S. from Nicaragua and Honduras, saying that it was safe for them to return to their home countries, a quarter of a century after a devastating natural disaster led them to seek refuge in the U.S.
TPS provides deportation relief and work permits to people whose home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event, but does not provide a path to citizenship or permanent residency.
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The U.S. granted protection for Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Still, Noem says the government has made “tremendous strides” since then to recover from the disaster, and that it is safe for Honduran nationals to return. The same applies to Nicaraguans, she says, and Nepal lost its TPS status on June 6.
The National TPS Alliance says Noem’s actions will threaten the livelihoods of an estimated 60,000 holders living lawfully in the United States, some for as long as 26 years, in the case of Honduras and Nicaragua, and 10 years in the case of Nepal.
“DHS has ordered that Honduran and Nicaraguan TPS holders be stripped of their legal status and work authorization in 60 days; Nepali TPS holders stand to lose their status by August 5th, 2025,” the advocacy group said in a press release on Tuesday.
One plaintiff, Jhony Silva, called Noem’s decision “heartless,” saying he was “devastated” by the move.
“I’ve been in the United States since I was three years old. I work in a hospital, caring for cardiac patients. I’ve been doing it the ‘right way’ the whole time. Now, I am facing losing my job, the ability to care for my family, and the only home I’ve ever known,” he said.
“I hope that the people of this country will open their hearts and see TPS holders for what we are: human beings worthy of safety and dignity,” he added.
Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, which represents the plaintiffs, says the administration is forcing TPS holders, many of whom have children who are U.S. citizens, to make an impossible decision.
“They cannot safely go back to their country of nationality, leaving their families and communities, and yet they will be stripped of the right to live and work in the U.S.”
The National TPS Alliance represents 320,000 members and says it continues to protect those it speaks for through legal channels, “while pushing forward the fight for permanent residency.”
“We know that an attack on one TPS-designated country is an attack on all of us. Today, we tell our members from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal — and the entire TPS community — that we must stand up to hate, and we must do it together,” the press release continues.
DHS had previously terminated TPS for Venezuela in April, Haiti in June, Afghanistan in May, and Cameroon in March.
According to NBC News, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the lawsuit “ignores the President’s constitutionally vested powers.”
“TPS was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades,” she said in a statement obtained by the U.S. outlet.
“The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side,” McLaughlin concluded.
Jessica Bansal, a lawyer at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which represents the plaintiffs, says, “the decisions to strip legal status from people who have lived in the U.S. for at least ten years, and in most cases at least 25, and followed all the rules, are not just callous. It’s also illegal.”
“The administration cannot manufacture a predetermined outcome without regard for its statutory obligations,” she concluded.
No Homeland Security secretary has ever refused to provide a transition period of at least six months in the event of a termination of TPS where a country has been designated for three years or more, according to the National TPS Alliance.
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