A federal judge on Friday blocked The Trump administration has lifted temporary deportation protections for nearly 3,000 Yemeni nationals living and working in the United States. U.S. District Judge Dale Ho of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of a group of Yemeni nationals who had sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Plans to end their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The verdict comes against the background of the current government’s general immigration policy tough crackdownIn doing so, DHS – under President Donald Trump’s mandate – attempted to end TPS ratings for 13 different countries, including Ethiopia, Haiti and Syria.
In his ruling, Ho said that DHS under then-Secretary Kristi Noem ended TPS status for Yemenis in “clear disregard” of the process established by Congress:
This dish doesn’t write on a blank slate. Defendants have terminated TPS for more than half a dozen countries in the last six months, in circumstances almost indistinguishable from those here. And every district court that has considered the key argument advanced by plaintiffs herein has granted a motion to postpone and/or vacate a termination of TPS for failure to comply with the necessary procedures established therefor by Congress.
Additionally, Ho found that DHS did not adequately justify the change and did not adequately consider the country’s conditions in the decision to revoke Yemen’s TPS status.
“TPS holders from Yemen are not ‘murderers, leeches and entitlement junkies,'” the judge concluded, citing a tweet with name:
They are ordinary, law-abiding people who have been granted status here because the Government has repeatedly determined, in accordance with the TPS Statute, that there is an ongoing armed conflict in Yemen and that a request to return due to that conflict would pose a serious threat to their security.
Friday’s ruling temporarily suspends the government’s newly implemented policy while the case continues.
TPS allows nationals of certain countries facing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions to legally live and work in the United States. Yemen was first granted TPS in 2015 amid an escalating civil war that has since sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. For the time being, the court’s decision maintains both their legal status and their work permits for the approximately 2,800 Yemeni nationals covered by the program.
DHS has maintained that it has the authority to review and terminate TPS designations, arguing that such decisions fall within its discretion. The court is expected to appeal the ruling later in the proceedings.
The Yemenis’ case is part of a broader series of legal disputes over the government’s efforts to roll back TPS protections for several countries. This policy shift has drawn sharp criticism from immigrant advocacy groups, given the anti-immigrant sentiment and policies that have characterized Trump’s second term.
Friday’s decision adds to a growing body of litigation challenging recent efforts to overturn TPS designations, with courts increasingly scrutinizing DHS’s compliance with procedural and statutory requirements Requirements established by Congress. Further proceedings are expected to take place in the coming months in which the parties will negotiate the underlying claims to ensure that the termination of TPS for Yemen – and by extension the other designated countries – is decided by the courts and not by unilateral executive action alone.
