Judge Blocks DHS From Ending Protections for 2,800 Yemeni Nationals

A district court ruled against the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Yemeni nationals in the United States, which removes their deportation protection.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in February announced that the TPS designation for Yemenis would end on May 4.

Foreign citizens are granted TPS designation when they face environmental disasters, epidemics, armed conflict, or other extraordinary, temporary conditions. They can live and work in the United States for a period of time as long as returning to their home nation is considered dangerous, which is a determination made by the DHS secretary.

Yemen was granted TPS designation in 2015, a status that has since been renewed several times.

On March 19, a class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by seven Yemeni nationals, six of them TPS holders and one with a pending application. According to the complaint, there are about 2,810 Yemeni nationals in the United States holding TPS status, and an additional 425 nationals have pending applications.

The lawsuit argued that termination of Yemen’s TPS “did not emerge from the deliberative process Congress required.”

A DHS secretary can lawfully terminate a TPS designation only when that country “no longer continues to meet the conditions for designation,” the lawsuit said. However, the formal notice of TPS termination, published in the Federal Register on March 3, states that the DHS secretary has determined that Yemen “still experiences extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

“The government’s own document establishes that termination is statutorily barred. The Secretary terminated anyway,” the lawsuit said. “The termination of TPS for Yemen violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This Court should set it aside.”

On March 25, the plaintiffs filed a memorandum in support of a motion to postpone the May 4 termination date.

In a ruling issued on May 1, the district court took the side of the plaintiffs. The court said that the administration has terminated TPS for more than half a dozen nations over the past six months, which attracted several lawsuits. The district courts that considered these cases have either postponed or vacated the TPS terminations for “failing to comply with the requisite procedures for doing so established by Congress.”

“The Supreme Court heard argument in two of these cases earlier this week,” the court said. “And it has thus far declined to stay the lower court rulings in those cases pending appeal.”

The court opted not to wait for the Supreme Court’s guidance and ruled that “DHS acted unlawfully by terminating TPS in clear disregard of the procedural requirements established by Congress,” granting plaintiffs’ motions to postpone the effective date of TPS termination.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, a DHS spokesperson said that TPS was designed to be temporary and the Trump administration is returning the program to its original intent.

“After reviewing conditions in the country and consulting with appropriate U.S. government agencies, the Homeland Security Secretary determined that Yemen no longer meets the law’s requirements to be designated for Temporary Protected Status,” the spokesperson said.

“We are prioritizing our national security interests and putting America first.

“Temporary means temporary and the final word will not be from activist judges legislating from the bench.”

The March 3 Federal Register notice justified the need to end the TPS designation for Yemenis, citing national interests.

The notice pointed to a proclamation issued by President Donald Trump in June 2025 restricting the entry of foreign nationals from countries, including Yemen. The proclamation said that Yemen “lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures.”

According to the notice, DHS records suggest that some Yemeni nationals who have been granted TPS status have been under investigation as national security or public security risks. Moreover, there are instances of Yemeni nationals overstaying their non-immigrant visas.

As such, the DHS determined that allowing Yemeni nationals to reside in the United States under TPS was “contrary to the U.S. national interest; therefore, termination of the Yemen Temporary Protected Status designation is required.”

On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case regarding the Trump administration’s decision to end TPS designation for Haitian and Syrian nationals, which could subject them to deportation. The court is yet to rule on the issue.

Previously, two district courts blocked the termination of TPS designations for Syrians and Haitians.