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           ~.Research Service






Termination of Temporary Protected Status

for Certain Countries: Recent Litigation

Developments



Updated March 8, 2023

Certain aliens (as defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)) who otherwise are subject to
removal from the United States may stay and work here when the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) designates their countries for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) because of unstable or dangerous
conditions in those countries. In 2017 and 2018, DHS announced the termination of TPS designations for
Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, Nepal, and Honduras. The agency's decisions affect, as of
November  2022, roughly 292,000 TPS beneficiaries from those six countries who potentially could lose
authorization to remain in the United States upon the effective termination date of the countries' TPS
designations. Several lawsuits challenged DHS's decisions on various constitutional and statutory
grounds. In one of those cases, Ramos v. Wolf, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2020
reversed a lower court's preliminary injunction barring DHS from ending the TPS designations for four of
those countries-Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. In 2023, following unsuccessful efforts by the
parties to reach a settlement, the Ninth Circuit granted the plaintiffs' petition to rehear the case en banc
and vacated the 2020 panel decision. A separate court challenge to the termination of TPS designations
for Honduras and Nepal remains staved pending the outcome in Ramos. DHS newly designated Haiti and
Sudan for TPS in 2021, 2022, and 2023, thereby allowing nationals of those countries to apply for TPS
benefits based on the newer designations. This Legal Sidebar examines the litigation concerning the TPS
designation terminations and the implications it may have for TPS recipients.


Background

Under 8 U.S.C. § 1254a, DHS, in consultation with other federal agencies, may designate a country (or
any part of a country) for TPS if (1) there is an armed conflict that prevents the safe return of nationals
from that country; (2) there has been an environmental disaster in that country that substantially disrupts
living conditions in the area affected; or (3) there are extraordinary and temporary conditions in the
foreign country that prevent alien nationals from safely returning. An alien from a country designated for
TPS may  be permitted to remain and work in the United States for the period in which the TPS
designation is in effect, even if the alien had not originally entered the United States lawfully. The initial
                                                                Congressional Research Service
                                                                https://crsreports.congress.gov
                                                                                    LSB10541

CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

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