The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on February 9 granted the Trump administration’s request to stay a lower court ruling that had blocked the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua.
The stay allows the Department of Homeland Security to move forward, for now, with ending TPS protections while the appeal proceeds.
On December 31, 2025, a federal district court vacated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate TPS for the three countries, finding the move violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The administration appealed and sought a stay pending review.
In granting the stay, the Ninth Circuit said the government is likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal either by demonstrating that courts lack jurisdiction to review TPS termination decisions or by prevailing on its argument that the secretary’s actions were not “arbitrary and capricious.”
The panel cited 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(5)(A), which states there is no judicial review of “any determination” regarding the “designation, termination, or extension” of TPS. At this preliminary stage, the court wrote that the government had shown a likelihood of prevailing on its argument that the terminations are unreviewable.
The judges also referenced recent Supreme Court stay orders involving TPS for Venezuela, noting those decisions inform how lower courts exercise their discretion in similar cases.
“With this decision, the government and the legal system are turning their backs on people who have called the US home for decades,” Jose Palma, coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, said in a statement posted by the UCLA School of Law’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy.
More than half of the judges on the Ninth Circuit were appointed by Democratic presidents. The court hears federal cases from western states, including California and Alaska. The 9th Circuit is traditionally considered the most left-leaning of the federal appellate courts, though some recent reporting indicates that the First Circuit, which hears cases from New England, is perceived by left-wing activists to be the most friendly venue.
TPS, created by Congress in 1990, allows foreign nationals to remain and work in the United States if their home countries are deemed unsafe due to armed conflict, natural disaster or other extraordinary conditions. Honduras and Nicaragua were designated after Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and Nepal after a 2015 earthquake.
The appeal will now proceed on an expedited briefing schedule set by the Ninth Circuit.
