US appeals court lets Trump continue ending deportation protections

A U.S. appeals court in California on Monday temporarily lifted a federal judge's order that had blocked the Trump administration from ending deportation protections for nearly 89,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua.



The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals said the government could likely prove there were "legitimate" reasons to end Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from those countries and paused a California federal judge's ruling against the administration for the duration of the appeal.



"TPS was never designed to be permanent, yet previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program for decades," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X in response to the decision. "Given the improved situation in each of these countries, we are wisely concluding what was intended to be a temporary designation."



Attorneys and spokespeople for the National TPS Alliance, which represents the migrants, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.

TPS provides deportation relief and work permits to people already in the U.S. if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. Trump has sought to end most TPS enrollment as part of a broader effort to restrict immigration.