LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument today in a legal challenge to the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans and Haitians. The case, NTPSA v. Noem, challenges the first actions by the Trump administration to end the congressionally authorized humanitarian protection program. Since then, the Trump administration has terminated TPS for nine more countries and extended TPS for none.

Ahilan Arulanantham, Faculty Co-Director at the UCLA Center for Immigration Law & Policy (CILP), who argued the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, said, “Today's hearing comes as hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans live in fear, uncertain if this administration will deport them back to a country that is suffering and near economic collapse. We hope the court will insist the administration comply with the law as Congress intended it to by engaging in an objective assessment of the country conditions in Venezuela.”

This hearing concerned the government’s appeal to the district court's September 5 final ruling that the cancellation of TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians was illegal and must be set aside. On October 3, the U.S. Supreme Court partially stayed the district court’s ruling in an unexplained decision on its shadow docket, allowing the TPS termination of Venezuela to enter into effect–placing Venezuelan TPS holders at risk of detention and deportation while the appeal proceeds. 

"With the end of TPS looming, my family and I are facing tremendous uncertainty. I will continue to stand up and fight for the dignity that all people, including immigrants, deserve," said Sherika Blanc, a Haitian TPS holder plaintiff who has lived in the United States since she was eight years old and is now the mother of four U.S. citizen children. “TPS has been our lifeline, allowing me to live in safety and build a life--to work, pay taxes, and raise my children.”

“Today, hundreds of thousands of TPS holders and their families are placing their hope in the legal system and specifically in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The lower court has recognized the illegality of the Trump administration’s termination of TPS, and this protection should continue. We urge the court to uphold the law and protect TPS holders and their families, said Jose Palma, Coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, the lead plaintiff in the case and a membership organization of hundreds of thousands of TPS holders across the country.

“This case concerns whether the Department of Homeland Security has to follow the law and whether courts will do anything about it when they do not. We are hopeful the Ninth Circuit will again confirm that Secretary Noem’s actions to deprive one million people of lawful immigration status are subject to judicial review,” said Jessica Bansal, TPS counsel at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

“The Trump administration seeks to destroy the decades-old humanitarian protection program Congress authorized,” said Emi MacLean, senior staff attorney for the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. “The brave individuals in court today stand against this lawlessness, on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of TPS holders and their families who rely on this protection while their countries are in crisis.”

“My home country is in absolute crisis,” said Cecilia Gonzalez, a Venezuelan TPS holder and plaintiff in the case. “This is exactly the type of situation that TPS was created to address. Being part of this lawsuit has given me hope. We will continue to fight for justice, whatever the obstacles.” 

NTPSA v. Noem was filed in February 2025 to challenge the sudden termination of TPS for Venezuelan TPS holders, and later amended to include Haitian TPS holders after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem abruptly ended an extension of TPS for Haiti. It challenges the termination of TPS as unconstitutionally motivated by racial animus and as arbitrary, capricious, and in excess of legal authority in violation of the Administrative Procedure ACT (APA). Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and President Trump have consistently used racist tropes to dehumanize nonwhite, non-European immigrants, including in announcing the challenged decisions. 

The plaintiffs are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the ACLU Foundations of Northern California and Southern California, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law, and Haitian Bridge Alliance.

Founded in 2020, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law expands the law school's role as a national leader in immigration law and policy, generating innovative ideas at the intersection of immigration scholarship and practice and serving as a hub for transforming those ideas into meaningful changes in immigration policy.    

Follow CILP on Instagram (@UCLA_CILP), Bluesky (@uclacilp.bsky.social) or sign up for additional news at https://bit.ly/CILPsubscribe.