Court blocks Trump administration from ending deportation protections for Afghans for now

CBS News

2 days ago

An appeals court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking deportation protections and work permits for thousands of people from Afghanistan.
The administration had planned to end temporary protected status for Afghanistan on Monday, part of a broader push to cut back a program that gives migrants reprieve from deportation if their home country is deemed unsafe. The administration argues those protections aren't meant to be permanent and Afghanistan's security situation has improved, though opponents say the country remains unsafe and revocation would force people to uproot their lives.
But in a late-night ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit blocked the administration from putting into place its withdrawal of temporary protected status for one week. The court's administrative stay didn't weigh in on the merits of the case, instead giving the administration and CASA — a group that sued the government over its policy — time to file briefs.
CASA's national communications director Jossie Flor Sapunar told CBS News that, although the ruling is temporary, "every moment counts when it comes to families figuring out their futures."
AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that has helped relocate Afghans, told CBS News the ruling "offers a brief but critical window of relief."
"TPS has been a vital lifeline for tens of thousands of Afghans who supported U.S. missions or fled Taliban persecution. Ending it would not only uproot families and destabilize communities, it would betray a promise we made," AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in an email. "We are heartened by the court's stay, but this isn't a victory—it's a pause. And it underscores the need for permanent protections, not political whiplash every few months."
CBS News has reached out to the White House and Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Some 11,700 Afghans are enrolled in temporary protected status, or TPS, according to federal estimates. The program was extended for Afghanistan in 2023, under the Biden administration, which cited a "deepening humanitarian crisis" and "economic collapse" in Afghanistan since the U.S. military's 2021 withdrawal led the Taliban to retake the country.
The program is separate from the more permanent "special immigrant visas" issued to Afghans who worked for the U.S. military, often as translators.
TPS for Afghanistan was set to expire in May of this year unless the Trump administration chose to extend it again. Two months ago, DHS announced it would end the program in mid-July, saying the administration was "returning TPS to its original temporary intent."
"Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent[s] them from returning to their home country," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.
CASA sued Noem over the decision. The group argued the government had not followed the right procedure to end TPS, and alleged the decision wasn't motivated by whether Afghans still qualified for protection, but instead was "part of the Trump Administration's broader effort to reduce the number of nonwhite immigrants in this country."
The government pushed back on the lawsuit, writing that Noem has "broad discretion" over which countries qualify for TPS, and arguing the court shouldn't intervene because the protections are only meant to be temporary.
Last week, a federal judge denied DHS's request to dismiss the lawsuit, but also denied CASA's motion to halt the administration's policy. CASA appealed that ruling, and on Monday, an appellate court put the revocation of TPS on hold while it considers the case.
The Trump administration has sought to wind down TPS for scores of other countries, impacting hundreds of thousands of migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti, Cameroon and Afghanistan. The program had been expanded by former President Joe Biden, but President Trump has shifted to a more hardline stance on immigration.
The TPS rollback has drawn some lawsuits, but in May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end TPS for Venezuelan migrants while the legal battles continue.