“The government is likely to prevail in its argument that the Secretary’s decision-making process in terminating TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal was not arbitrary and capricious,” court documents said.
Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua all originally received TPS protections due to specific environmental disasters. Nepal was designated in 2015 following a massive earthquake, while Honduras and Nicaragua received protections in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch.
Noem’s chief spokeswoman, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, previously noted last August that TPS protections were always intended to be temporary.
On December 31, 2025, a San Francisco district court judge sided with the plaintiffs and canceled Secretary Noem’s termination order.