{"id":2570278,"date":"2026-02-16T07:33:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-keeps-losing-tps-termination-cases-at-lower-courts-despite-higher-court-wins\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T07:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:36:27","slug":"trump-keeps-losing-tps-termination-cases-at-lower-courts-despite-higher-court-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-keeps-losing-tps-termination-cases-at-lower-courts-despite-higher-court-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump keeps losing TPS termination cases at lower courts despite higher court wins"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-keeps-losing-tps-termination-cases-at-lower-courts-despite-higher-court-wins%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2570278&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article describes the ongoing legal battle over the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mayorkas-building-bureaucratic-bridge-to-import-more-ukrainian-migrants\/\" title=\"Mayorkas Building Bureaucratic Bridge to Import More Ukrainian Migrants\">end temporary protected status<\/a> (TPS) for nationals from several countries, a push that has been stalled in district courts even as some higher courts have allowed or limited those revocations.<\/p>\n<p>Key points:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; District court rulings have repeatedly blocked TPS terminations, citing procedural issues or what judges viewed as pretextual or discriminatory reasoning. Notable examples include a South Sudan termination being struck down as pretextual.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A high-profile ruling blocked ending TPS for Haiti,with Judge Ana Reyes citing racial animus as part of the unlawfully pretextual decision.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; In contrast, appellate courts have sometiems upheld the administration\u2019s revocation efforts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit lifted lower-court blocks on revoking TPS for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua, finding the government had a sufficient record to justify termination.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The Supreme Court has intervened in the Venezuela case, issuing emergency orders that limited a lower court halt on Venezuela TPS revocation, suggesting that lower court rulings against revocation may face uphill battles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; legal analysis within the piece attributes the mixed results to a combination of procedural missteps, policy disagreements, and potential considerations of national origin. Some commentators argue that \u201cleft-wing lawfare\u201d and well-funded lawsuits in liberal jurisdictions contribute to the frequent legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The administration contends TPS was intended to be temporary and is moving to end TPS for additional countries, including Yemen, framing the policy as prioritizing national security and returning TPS to its original temporary intent.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; the article portrays a pattern where district courts frequently block TPS revocations while appellate courts and the Supreme Court have shown more willingness to permit or limit those revocations, indicating a continued and evolving legal dispute over TPS policy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump keeps losing TPS termination cases at lower courts despite higher court wins<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2492431\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\">Trump administration<\/a> has attempted to revoke temporary protected status for immigrants from multiple countries, but lower <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/courts\/\">courts<\/a> continue to find ways to block it despite a pair of wins for the Trump administration at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court gave the green light to ending TPS for immigrants from Venezuela <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3836991\/supreme-court-allows-trump-administration-end-tps-venezuelans-for-now\/\">twice<\/a>, but lower courts have still blocked the Trump administration from ending the status for various other countries, including Haiti. A federal district court judge recently blocked Trump&rsquo;s effort to end TPS for immigrants temporarily in the country from Haiti, even though the status was extended to those immigrants due to an earthquake that struck Haiti nearly 16 years ago. The Trump administration&rsquo;s roadblocks have stemmed from a mix of their own procedural issues and unfriendly judges making policy decisions, rather than judicial decisions, according to legal experts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4457907\/doj-antitrust-shake-up-reflects-effort-to-define-maga-antitrust-after-slater-exit\/\">DOJ antitrust shake-up reflects effort to define &lsquo;MAGA antitrust&rsquo; after Slater exit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4458649\/massie-trump-transparency-files-epstein-administration\/\">Massie rips Trump&#8217;s lack of transparency on files as head of &#8216;Epstein administration&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4458635\/khanna-doj-epstein-files-names-janis-joplin\/\">Khanna says DOJ &#8216;muddying the waters&#8217; on Epstein files by naming Janis Joplin in letter<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tps-revocation-continues-to-be-halted-in-district-courts\">TPS revocation continues to be halted in district courts<\/h2>\n<p>More than a year after entering office, the Trump administration has faced continued lawsuits and injunctions for nearly every action it pursues, and the revocation of TPS for various countries has been no different.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Patti Saris, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, struck down the administration&rsquo;s attempt to end TPS for South Sudan on Thursday, finding that the reason provided was unlawfully &ldquo;pretextual.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>One of the most high profile recent rejections of TPS revocation came from U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, who halted efforts to end TPS for Haiti earlier this month. In her lengthy ruling, Reyes said that both President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem showed what she saw as racial animus against Haitians. Reyes wrote that the decision to revoke the country&rsquo;s status was therefore unlawfully pretextual.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Taken together, the record strongly suggests that Secretary Noem&rsquo;s decision to terminate Haiti&rsquo;s TPS designation was motivated, at least in part, by racial animus,&rdquo; she wrote. &ldquo;The mismatch between what the Secretary said in the Termination and what the evidence shows confirms that the termination of Haiti&rsquo;s TPS designation was not the product of reasoned decision-making, but of a preordained outcome justified by pretextual reasons.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Reyes&rsquo;s ruling caused <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4444137\/judge-blocks-trump-revoking-protected-status-haitians-controversial-ruling\/\">uproar<\/a> in conservative legal circles, with critics accusing her of ruling due to her personal disapproval of the policy decision instead of its legality. <\/p>\n<p>While the administration has faced stumbles in the district court, it has notably notched victories in higher courts, including earlier this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appeals court panel lifted a lower court&rsquo;s ruling blocking the revocation of TPS for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The appeals court panel rejected the lower court&rsquo;s finding that the revocation was arbitrary and capricious, finding the government was able to provide a record for why the Department of Homeland Security revoked the status.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court has also weighed in on its emergency docket twice, limiting a lower court&rsquo;s halt of the revocation of TPS for Venezuela. The majority of the justices in both orders did not elaborate in detail on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-overturns-chevron-doctrine-upends-administrative-state\/\" title=\"SCOTUS Overturns Chevron Doctrine, Upends Administrative State\">high court&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s rationale for decision, but their intervention suggests lower court judges who continue to try blocking TPS revocations are unlikely to be successful.<\/p>\n<p>With the variety of rulings on TPS, several conservative legal analysts have said the Democrat-appointed judges are simply ruling against the Trump administration over policy differences, while the adverse rulings themselves allege the administration failed to follow procedure.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-unfavorable-courts-and-procedural-issues-have-been-root-of-tps-revocation-issues\">Unfavorable courts and procedural issues have been root of TPS revocation issues<\/h2>\n<p>When asked if the rulings on TPS had more to do with the administration not following proper procedure or with judges overreaching in their rulings, John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both Bush administrations, said &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a little bit of both.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Shu pointed to the administration&rsquo;s attempts to end TPS for Haiti as an example of where the administration got in its own way with comments about the country and Haitian nationals, which led to a judge halting the revocation of TPS on claims of unlawful animus.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Policies may not be based on racial or national origin animus, and plaintiffs will challenge policies in court if a policy even appears to be based on such animus, even if the policy itself is straight up correct,&rdquo; Shu told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;TPS is based on national origin and so can be vulnerable to such challenges.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He stated that it would &ldquo;ideal&rdquo; if the administration would &ldquo;look ahead and try to minimize the likely plaintiffs&rsquo; potential arguments and maximize its chances of winning in court,&rdquo; noting that they will always face pushback from left-wing groups.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Because so much of the left-wing viscerally detests the current administration, they&rsquo;ll fund and file lawsuits whenever TPS is withdrawn from anybody &ndash; Haitians, Congolese, Yemenis, Danish &ndash; it doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; Shu said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Left-wing lawfare is very well-funded, often by billionaires, and they&rsquo;re ready to file lawsuits in places like Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, and other liberal jurisdictions where they know they&rsquo;re almost certain to win, and they&rsquo;ll take those cases all the way to the Supreme Court,&rdquo; Shu added.<\/p>\n<p>Every one of Trump&rsquo;s attempts to revoke TPS has been met with a lawsuit, and most of them have been filed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-says-i-like-that-guy-after-cameraman-catches-entire-press-room-off-guard-by-interrupting-briefing\/\" title=\"Trump Says &#039;I Like That Guy&#039; After Cameraman Catches Entire Press Room Off Guard by Interrupting Briefing\">federal judicial districts<\/a> with overwhelming Democrat-appointed benches. The judges&rsquo; negative rulings in several of the cases have been more akin to political decisions than judicial rulings.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Any president has the power to reverse a previous administration&rsquo;s policy determinations and findings, especially if the facts on the ground have changed.&nbsp;The Immigration and Nationality Act grants the executive branch broad authority and deference,&rdquo; Shu said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Unfortunately, a lot of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >district court judges personally dislike<\/a> the president and his policies and rule accordingly, but they&rsquo;re not supposed to do that. Instead, judges are supposed to put aside their personal feelings &ndash; either for or against &ndash; and rule based on the facts and the plain text, meaning, and original intent of the law,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3477164\/temporary-in-name-only-tps-program-allows-foreigners-stay-in-us-years\/\">&lsquo;TEMPORARY&rsquo; IN NAME ONLY: HOW TPS ALLOWS FOREIGNERS TO STAY IN THE US FOR YEARS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the administration continues to face legal battles with ending TPS, it continues to seek the termination of the status for additional countries. The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday it would be ending TPS for Yemen, claiming the country no longer meets the standards for protection and reiterating the administration&rsquo;s stance on the program.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;TPS was designed to be temporary, and this administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent. We are prioritizing our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congressional-war-vets-warn-biden-against-shuttering-gitmo\/\" title=\"Congressional War Vets Warn Biden Against Shuttering Gitmo\">national security interests<\/a> and putting America first,&rdquo; Noem said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lower courts block TPS terminations despite SCOTUS wins<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2570279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25128650243074-1.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[73868,3813,73869,49417,3634],"class_list":["post-2570278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-court-rulings-2","tag-immigration","tag-lower-courts-2","tag-tps","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25128650243074-1.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2570278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2570283,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570278\/revisions\/2570283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2570279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2570278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2570278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2570278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}