This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh is an active member.
Update: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay the lower court’s injunction, thus TPS benefits have now ended for Honduras and Nepal as of September 8, 2025. Please note that litigation remains ongoing.
On July 31, 2025, U.S. district court judge Trina Thompson, of the Northern District of California, postponed the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua until at least November 18, 2025, when a hearing on the merits will be held.
Among other things, the judge said that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their Fifth Amendment claim. The judge determined that there was sufficient evidence demonstrating “racial and discriminatory animus” in support of plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment claim, adding that “[c]olor is neither a poison nor a crime.” The judge also noted the economic effects of termination of TPS on the United States, among other public interest considerations: “Termination of TPS for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua will result in a $1.4 billion loss to the United States economy.” Citing statistics that approximately 87% of TPS holders in the United States participate in the labor force, a substantially higher rate than the U.S. labor force participation rate overall (about 62%), the judge said that the TPS terminations would result in reductions in tax revenue as well as Social Security and Medicare payments.
