An appeals court issued a ruling Monday allowing the Trump administration to revoke deportation protections for citizens from Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras.
The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals struck down an August ruling from a California judge that ruled against plans to end protections for migrants from those countries, citing sufficient racial animus.
The three-judge appeals panel said the Trump administration could provide “legitimate” reasoning to support its decision to end protections for 60,000 migrants who entered the country through Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
“We conclude that the government is likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal either by showing that the district court lacked jurisdiction or by prevailing on plaintiffs’ arbitrary-and-capricious APA challenge,” judges wrote in their ruling, referring to Administrative Procedure Act challenges, which are legal actions filed in federal district court to contest federal agency actions as arbitrary, capricious, unlawful or to address unreasonable delays.
The decision is set to impact approximately 50,000 Hondurans, 7,000 Nepalis and 3,000 Nicaraguans who migrated to flee war, weather disasters or other conditions under TPS, according to the National Immigration Forum.