Judge halts end of TPS for 60,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua

(TNND) — A federal judge ruled the Trump administration’s decision to revoke Temporary Protected Status for individuals from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua was unlawful.

U.S. District Court Trina Thompson specifically pointed out that the Department of Homeland Security Secretary’s decision to end the status was “pre-ordained.”

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the ruling “another lawless and activist order from the federal judiciary who continues to usurp the President’s constitutional authority,” in a statement to CBS.

“Under the previous administration, Temporary Protected Status was abused to allow violent terrorists, criminals, and national security threats into our nation,” McLaughlin said. “TPS was never designed to be permanent, yet previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program for decades. Given the improved situation in each of these countries, now is the right time to conclude what was always intended to be a temporary designation.”

The judge added that Homeland Security Secretary Noem failed to comply with regulations that say the State Department must review the country’s conditions before terminating the program.

“I am grateful that this order means that I can return to work and live safely in the United States, but the Secretary should never have been allowed to act with such disregard for the law,” said Sandhya Lama, a plaintiff for the lawsuit, in a written statement.

Lama is a 43-year-old from Nepal.

The decision, which impacts 60,000 individuals, comes after the program was cancelled in July. The programs were first created in the late 1990s after the countries impacted faced natural disasters.

“I have lived in the United States since I was three years old, but lost my job as a certified nursing assistant because of the termination, and had to stop my studies to become a nurse. I hope that this means my child and I can be secure in the United States for the time being, but we will not give up fighting to protect our rights and the rights of others,” said another plaintiff, Jhony Silva, in a written statement.

Silva is a 29-year-old from Honduras.

The Trump administration is also terminating the TPS program for immigrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela.