First came the Venezuelans. Then came the Haitians. Now it’s 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans who are facing the end of Temporary Protected Status by the Trump administration that would leave them undocumented and at risk of deportation.
Some of them have had TPS for a quarter-century, since U.S. officials first determined that storm damage and political conditions in those Central American nations warranted the protection, allowing people to live and work in the United States.
There is a chance the federal courts will delay the end of TPS for Hondurans and Nicaraguans, as one did in June for people from Haiti. In May, however, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed President Donald Trump to revoke TPS protections from 350,000 Venezuelans while their cases play out in the lower courts. That process could take months.
Many of them live in Florida, a state that already has seen thousands of immigration arrests and whose pool of workers has shrunk amid the Trump crackdowns. The DeSantis administration reported the unemployment rate for May in the state was 3.7%, below the 4% threshold economists have long held constitutes full employment.
In the orders, DHS recognized the TPS holders can continue to work until Sept. 8, after which Florida law states an employer of an undocumented personal can face a fine.
In all, over 1.2 million TPS holders from Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti are scheduled to lose legal status and their work permits soon after Labor Day.
The Department of Homeland Security is offering people from both nations a deal to help them self-deport. It includes “a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.”
What is Temporary Protected Status?
Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian designation, provided by a 1990 law, given to people from specific countries that are suffering from armed conflict, a natural disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary” conditions that make returning home unsafe.
President Bill Clinton extended TPS for Honduras and Nicaragua in 1999 following Hurricane Mitch, a Category 5 storm that devastated the Central American nations.
The TPS designation was extended for over two decades under the Republican and Democratic administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama on the basis that it was unsafe for Hondurans and Nicaraguans to return due to widespread violence and political unrest.
TPS allows people covered by it to live and work in the United States, but they are not considered permanent residents, nor do they have a pathway either to permanent residency or citizenship.
In order to obtain TPS, individuals must pass a full background check, and they may not have any previous felony convictions or two or more misdemeanors.
Having TPS allows people to get a driver’s license and receive a Social Security number, a requirement to work legally in the United States, and to file taxes, but they do not have access to any federal public benefits, including Social Security.
The benefit of TPS is that it prevents people from being deported to their native countries.
Why is Trump ending TPS now for Honduras and Nicaragua?
Trump tried to revoke TPS for Hondurans and Nicaraguans during his first term in 2017. A federal judge blocked the move. In 2023, former President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s terminations and extended the various TPS classifications to their current period until July 5, 2025.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on July 7 that the TPS designation for Hondurans and Nicaraguans granted in 1999 was allowed to expire on July 5 and would be terminated on Sept. 8, about a week after DHS scheduled about 520,000 Haitians to lose their protection. The matter is now before the courts.
DHS said conditions in Nicaragua and Honduras had improved and no longer meet the conditions to grant TPS. It cited the same reason in June for ending TPS for Haitians and Venezuelans, even though the United Nations disputes the finding and the State Department warns against travel to all four nations.
“Temporary Protected Status was never meant to last a quarter of a century,” said a DHS spokesperson. “This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that TPS remains temporary.”
Noem said in separate orders that Honduras and Nicaragua had made significant progress recovering from Hurricane Mitch’s destruction and no longer met the environmental-disaster designation. She added both nations have regularly accepted the return of its nationals over the last five years.
Noem said Honduras it is “now a popular tourism and real estate investment destination.” For Nicaragua, She described it as “a growing tourism, ecotourism, agriculture, and renewable energy leader.”
The United Nations, however, said both Central American nations are facing complex political instabilities.
Honduras has operated under a what it calls a “state of exception” since 2022 due to the rise in crime and gang violence. The UN said it fears the extended state of exception has lead to human rights violations such as arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force and restrictions on fundamental freedoms.
In Nicaragua, the UN has found President Daniel Ortega, who U.S. political conservatives historically have argued follows communist orthodoxy, operates a “tightly coordinated system of repression” with reports of human rights violations, erosion of the rule of law and prosecution of political, religious and indigenous populations.
The National TPS Alliance on July 7 sued the Trump administration to stop the termination of TPS for nationals from Honduras and Nicaragua who have lived lawfully in the United States for years, and some of them for decades. Also included in the lawsuit are people from Nepal, who also stand to lose TPS status on Aug. 5.
The lawsuit argues the terminations violate the federal Administrative Procedure Act by disregarding country conditions and instead “relying on a predetermined political decision to dismantle the TPS program.” It also alleges that racial animus motivated decisions, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit also challenges the government’s refusal to provide time for an “orderly transition” to TPS holders who have lived in the United States for decades. No prior secretary has refused to provide a transition period of at least six months in the termination of TPS where a country has been designated for three years or more.
“This administration is forcing TPS holders — and their U.S. citizen children — to make an impossible choice. They cannot safely go back to their country of nationality, leaving their families and communities, and yet they will be stripped of the right to live and work in the U.S,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law & Policy, which represents the plaintiffs.
Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump immigration crackdown: Now Hondurans, Nicaraguans in Florida face loss of TPS
Reporting by Valentina Palm, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
