US appeals court allows deportations of TPS holders from Nepal, Honduras, Nicaragua

WASHINGTON: A US appeals court on Monday opened the door for deportations of migrants from Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua who held Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order on Monday allowing the government to proceed with deportations while it appeals a federal judge’s decision that had vacated the Trump administration’s termination of TPS for tens of thousands of Nepalis, Honduran and Nicaraguan nationals.

"The order vacating the termination of TPS for Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua is stayed pending appeal," Monday’s decision read.

TPS allows narrow groups of people to live and work in the United States if they are deemed to be in danger if they return to their home countries because of war, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances.

TPS had applied to more than 51,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans who came to the United States after Hurricane Mitch devastated those Central American nations in 1998. Around 7,000 Nepalis have TPS protection following a 2015 earthquake in the Asian nation.

The Trump administration moved last year to end TPS for those groups, which had allowed them to live in the United States. Historically, presidents have continued to renew TPS status for immigrants rather than revoking it and rendering them undocumented.

But Trump has vowed a mass deportation campaign, with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying on Monday that "TPS was never designed to be permanent."

In stripping TPS, the Department of Homeland Security has said it was doing so because conditions have improved in those countries to the point where their nationals can return home safely.

(With inputs from RSS/AFP)