A ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has upheld President Trump’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program that had provided legal protection for immigrants fleeing war and natural disaster in their countries.
The ruling paves the way for deportations of more than 400,000 immigrants next year from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan should President Trump win reelection.
Trump tried to end TPS for those countries in November 2017, but a federal court ruling blocked that action.
On Monday, the 9th Circuit lifted the lower court’s block, meaning that the administration could terminate TPS status for all countries but El Salvador on March 5, 2021. Salvadorans would lose their status on November 5, 2021.
Proponents of the termination argue that TPS was always meant to be temporary, and that the program has turned into a permanent benefit program for hundreds of thousands of people.
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