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A US federal appeals court on Wednesday stayed a lower court’s order that had temporarily protected around 60,000 migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal from deportation. The decision, issued by the 9th US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco, supports the Trump administration’s move to end temporary protected status (TPS) for these groups, reported news agency AP.The three-judge panel, comprising appointees of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Trump, granted the emergency stay, pausing the earlier July 31 ruling by US district judge Trina L Thompson. Her order had blocked the administration’s attempt to terminate TPS, citing a lack of “objective review of the country conditions” in places like Honduras and Nicaragua. TPS shields migrants from deportation and allows them to work legally in the US It can be extended by the secretary of homeland security in cases of war, natural disasters, or unsafe political conditions in a migrant’s home country.Secretary Kristi Noem had determined that conditions no longer justified TPS for 51,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans, with protections set to expire September 8. TPS for 7,000 Nepalis was scheduled to end August 5. The migrants had lived in the US for over two decades following Hurricane Mitch in 1998.Immigration advocates, including the national TPS Alliance, have challenged the decision, alleging it was politically driven and racially motivated. At a Tuesday hearing, US Deputy assistant attorney general Drew Ensign argued the government faced “irreparable harm” if blocked from implementing its policies.Responding to criticism, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “TPS was never meant to be a de facto asylum system, yet that is how previous administrations have used it for decades.”The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 18.The Trump administration has also moved to terminate TPS for migrants from several other countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Cameroon. Some of those decisions are under litigation.
