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On Dec. 31, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) decisions to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, finding that the terminations violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court concluded that DHS failed to conduct an objective assessment of country conditions and did not consult with other federal agencies. National TPS Alliance, et al. v. Noem, et al., No. 25-cv-05687 (N.D. Cal.).
As background, the National TPS Alliance and other individuals (the plaintiffs) filed a lawsuit on July 7, 2025, after DHS announced the termination of TPS for individuals from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. Their legal status and work authorization were set to end within 60 days of the DHS announcement. TPS terminations would have resulted in the loss of legal status and work authorization within 60 days, and approximately 60,000 individuals were expected to be impacted. The plaintiffs argued that the TPS terminations were preordained decisions, not based on current country conditions, and that the terminations deviated from prior agency practice without explanation. DHS provided only a 60-day transition period, in contrast with long-standing agency practice of providing at least six months.
In its Dec. 31, 2025, decision, the court sided with the plaintiffs, stating, in light of the procedural failures, the TPS terminations for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua were arbitrary and capricious agency actions under the APA. As a result, the terminations for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua were deemed unlawful and vacated.
Still, DHS has continued to move forward with TPS terminations for other countries. Most recently, on Jan. 13, DHS announced the termination of TPS for Somalia. It concluded that country conditions have improved such that Somalia no longer meets the statutory requirements for TPS. Under the announcement, Somalia's TPS designation is set to expire on March 17, 2026, impacting approximately 1,100 current TPS beneficiaries, with an additional 1,400 applications pending as of early December 2025. DHS indicated that Somali nationals with other lawful status may remain in the United States, while others were encouraged to depart the country following the end of TPS protections.
DHS is expected to appeal the California district court's decision vacating the TPS terminations for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. In the meantime, employers and TPS beneficiaries should be aware that TPS policy continues to shift rapidly and remains the subject of ongoing litigation. Please feel free to reach out to Jackson Lewis attorneys as we closely monitor further developments.
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