Meet Judge Trina Thompson is a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California, appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in May 2022.
On December 31, 2025, Judge Thompson blocked the Trump administration from removing temporary protected status for immigrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua.
Now, a unanimous panel from the Ninth Circuit of Appeals just stayed that order in a major win for the Trump Administration, which will now be allowed to revoke deportation protections for citizens from Nicaragua, Nepal, and Honduras.
“We are not writing on a blank slate, however, because the Supreme Court has twice stayed district court orders blocking the Secretary’s vacatur of TPS for Venezuela. See Noem v. National TPS All., 146 S. Ct. 23 (2025); Noem v. National TPS All., 145 S. Ct. 2728 (2025). Those orders contained no reasoning, so they do not inform our analysis of the legal issues in this case, and the issues in any event are not identical. But the stay applications involved similar assertions of harm by both parties, and we have been admonished that the Court’s stay orders must inform “how [we] should exercise [our] equitable discretion in like cases.” Trump v. Boyle, 145 S. Ct. 2653, 2654 (2025). We therefore conclude that the equitable factors favor a stay.”
Judicial activism by sitting judges seeking to prevent the termination of TPS programs undermines the future implementation and success of such programs.
Clearly, this program was meant to be “temporary,” but judges such as Judge Thompson have treated it as effectively permanent with these injunctions. Nicaragua was designated for TPS in 1999, more than a quarter-century ago. After all, given that living conditions in some TPS countries have improved significantly since designation, it is only prudent to review and revise their status.
The executive branch of the U.S. government manages immigration policy, primarily through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its agencies, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). President Trump is doing his job!
We the People and the President can now see that allowing immigrants into the country temporarily is being treated by the court as granting permanent status.
These lower court rulings must be publicized, and the public must pay close attention to developments in our court system.
So, here are some facts:
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a U.S. government program that permits eligible foreign nationals from designated countries to live and work temporarily in the United States due to unsafe conditions in their home countries, such as armed conflict or natural disasters. TPS does not provide a path to permanent residency or citizenship.
Countries may be designated for TPS due to:
- Ongoing armed conflict (e.g., civil wars)
- Environmental disasters (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes)
- Extraordinary and temporary conditions that prevent safe return
Please note: The Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to designate countries for TPS after consulting with other government agencies.
Eligibility for TPS
To qualify for TPS, individuals must:
- Be a national of a designated country or have last habitually resided there
- Have been continuously physically present in the U.S. since the effective date of the TPS designation
- Apply during the specified registration period
Benefits of TPS
TPS provides several benefits, including:
- Protection from deportation
- Eligibility for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD)
- Potential travel authorization
OHB, keeping it real…you can be the judge…