Nationwide: The National TPS Alliance (NTPSA) and seven individual plaintiffs today sued the Trump administration over its termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua who have lived lawfully in the U.S. for many years. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated TPS for Honduras and Nicaragua this morning, two days after the expiration of the most recent prior TPS extension for these countries. DHS terminated TPS for Nepal on June 6. 

An estimated 60,000 affected TPS holders have lived lawfully in the United States for 26 years (in the case of Honduras and Nicaragua) and 10 years (in the case of Nepal), relying on TPS. However, 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. 

“I am devastated at the heartless decision to terminate TPS for Honduras. 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,” said Jhony Silva, one of the plaintiffs. “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.”

“The National TPS Alliance and its 320,000 members will continue fighting to protect TPS through legal channels, while also pushing forward the fight for permanent residency,” said Jose Palma, NTPSA Coordinator. “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 lawsuit alleges that these terminations violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by disregarding country conditions and instead relying on a predetermined political decision to dismantle the TPS program. These terminations follow on the heels of the vacatur and termination of TPS for Venezuela and Haiti, and the terminations of TPS for Afghanistan and Cameroon.

“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,” said Jessica Bansal, attorney at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which represents the plaintiffs. “The administration cannot manufacture a predetermined outcome without regard for its statutory obligations.”

“The Trump administration has gone to war against TPS itself,” said Emi MacLean, attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. “Secretary Noem, through her actions, is seeking to dismantle the statute that has provided humanitarian relief for hundreds of thousands of people who cannot safely return to their home countries.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the decisions were motivated by racial animus, in violation of the Constitution. Lastly, the case also 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. No prior Secretary has refused to provide an orderly transition period of at least six months of at least six months in the event of a termination of TPS where a country has been designated for three years or more.

“Honduran, Nepali, and Nicaraguan TPS holders have built strong ties in their communities, and in many cases have U.S. citizen family members,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law & Policy (CILP), which represents the plaintiffs. “This administration is forcing TPS holders–and their U.S. citizen children–to make an impossible choice. 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 plaintiffs are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the ACLU Foundations of Northern and Southern California, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance. 

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