On January 1, 2026, a federal judge in California issued a ruling that prevents the Trump administration from terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for around 60,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. TPS, which was established by Congress in 1990, provides temporary deportation protections and work permits to foreign nationals from countries facing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other emergencies that make return unsafe.

The TPS designations for Honduras and Nicaragua were first implemented in the late 1990s following Hurricane Mitch, while Nepal's designation was created in 2015 after a significant earthquake. The Trump administration, led by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, announced plans to end TPS for these countries, claiming they had sufficiently recovered from the crises that initially warranted the protections.

U.S. District Court Judge Trina Thompson ruled against this decision, stating that the administration's actions were unlawful and lacked an objective assessment of the conditions in the affected countries, as required by the TPS statute and the Administrative Procedures Act. Judge Thompson's ruling followed a preliminary decision in July, where she indicated that the administration had not adequately considered ongoing issues in these nations and suggested that the termination decision may have been influenced by racial animus.

The ruling is expected to allow TPS holders from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal to continue working legally in the U.S. and protect them from potential detention and deportation. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, emphasized that the decision reinstates protections for long-term residents who have complied with U.S. laws.

The Trump administration has sought to dismantle many TPS programs, arguing that they contribute to illegal immigration and have been improperly extended by previous administrations. This ruling complicates the administration's broader immigration agenda, which has focused on stricter border security measures and mass deportations. Additionally, a separate ruling by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts has halted deportations of South Sudanese nationals who hold or have applied for TPS, with the program set to expire on January 6, 2026.