{"slug":"tps-terminations-first-term-2017-2018","title":"First-Term TPS Terminations for Six Countries Under White House Pressure (2017–2018)","date":"2017-11-20","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"Between late 2017 and 2018 the Trump administration moved to end Temporary Protected Status for nationals of Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Nepal, threatening some 300,000 long-resident people and more than 200,000 US-citizen children with family separation or departure. Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke announced the Haiti termination on 20 November 2017. A federal district court enjoined four terminations in October 2018, finding record evidence that the White House pressured DHS to end TPS, that political appointees \"repackaged\" career staff recommendations, and that the President had expressed animus against non-white, non-European immigrants. A Ninth Circuit panel vacated that injunction in September 2020, holding the statutory claims unreviewable and finding no proven link between the President's animus and the decisions; the terminations never took effect before the next administration redesignated or extended the countries.","summary":"The first Trump administration tried to end temporary legal status for about 300,000 people from six countries. A court found evidence of White House pressure, rewritten staff recommendations and presidential animus, and blocked the terminations; an appeals court later lifted that block on jurisdictional grounds. The terminations were held off by litigation until the next administration changed course.","category":"deportation","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/11/20/acting-secretary-elaine-duke-announcement-temporary-protected-status-haiti","title":"Acting Secretary Elaine Duke Announcement on Temporary Protected Status for Haiti","publisher":"U.S. Department of Homeland Security"},{"url":"https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/09/14/18-16981.pdf","title":"Ramos v. Wolf, No. 18-16981, 975 F.3d 872 (9th Cir. 2020)","publisher":"U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit"},{"url":"https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/update-on-ramos-v-nielsen","title":"Update on Ramos v. Nielsen","publisher":"U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services"},{"url":"https://www.cliniclegal.org/resources/humanitarian-relief/temporary-protected-status-and-deferred-enforced-departure/challenges","title":"Challenges to TPS and DED terminations","publisher":"Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC)"},{"url":"https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/LSB11446.html","title":"Mullin v. Doe: Supreme Court Allows Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti and Syria","publisher":"Congressional Research Service (via EveryCRSReport)"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Temporary Protected Status","TPS","Haiti","El Salvador","Honduras","Ramos v. Nielsen","racial animus","family separation"],"relatedEntries":["mass-tps-terminations","trump-first-term-shithole-countries-comments","scotus-tps-asylum-rulings-june2026"],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-11-20","title":"Haiti termination announced","summary":"Acting Secretary Duke ends Haiti's TPS with an 18-month delay to 22 July 2019 (DHS)."},{"date":"2018-01-11","title":"'Shithole countries' remark","summary":"In a meeting with lawmakers where immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries were discussed, including TPS designations, the President asks 'Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?' and says Haitians 'must be left out of any deal' (district court finding, quoted in Ramos v. Wolf)."},{"date":"2018-03-12","title":"Ramos v. Nielsen filed","summary":"TPS holders and their US-citizen children sue in the Northern District of California (CLINIC)."},{"date":"2018-10-03","title":"Preliminary injunction","summary":"Judge Chen bars implementation of the terminations for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan (USCIS; CLINIC)."},{"date":"2019-04-11","title":"Haiti termination enjoined in New York","summary":"Judge William Kuntz issues a nationwide preliminary injunction in Saget v. Trump (CLINIC)."},{"date":"2020-09-14","title":"Ninth Circuit vacates the Ramos injunction","summary":"A 2–1 panel holds the APA claim unreviewable and the equal-protection claim unlikely to succeed; the plaintiffs seek rehearing en banc and the injunction stays in effect (Ramos v. Wolf; CLINIC; USCIS)."},{"date":"2026-06-25","title":"Supreme Court: TPS terminations largely unreviewable","summary":"In Mullin v. Doe, a case on the 2025 Haiti and Syria terminations, the Court holds that the statutory bar covers all non-constitutional claims (CRS)."}],"location":{"name":"United States (nationwide)","lat":38.8951,"lng":-77.0364},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"judicial-finding","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Articles 17, 23 and 24","provision":"Protection of the family and of children; no arbitrary interference with family life"},{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 26","provision":"Equal protection without discrimination on grounds of race or national origin"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"About 300,000 TPS holders from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras and Nepal, many resident for decades, and more than 200,000 US-citizen children (district court figures as described in the Ninth Circuit dissent).","perpetrators":"Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke; DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen; White House officials including Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff John Kelly (as described in the district court record); President Donald Trump","keyPoints":["Acting Secretary Duke announced the Haiti termination on 20 November 2017, effective 22 July 2019, finding that the 'extraordinary but temporary conditions caused by the 2010 earthquake no longer exist' (DHS).","The district court in Ramos v. Nielsen recognised that the terminations would leave over 200,000 US-citizen children facing departure or separation and some 300,000 non-citizens facing the loss of homes and jobs (Judge Christen's dissent in Ramos v. Wolf, describing the district court's findings; Judge R. Nelson's concurrence put those affected at 'at least 300,000').","The district court found, and the Ninth Circuit majority accepted as 'supported by record evidence', that the White House pressured DHS to end TPS and that President Trump expressed animus against 'non-white, non-European' immigrants, including the January 2018 'shithole countries' remark made while TPS designations were being discussed (Ramos v. Wolf).","Duke wrote to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly that her decisions would 'send a clear signal that TPS in general is coming to a close' and were 'consistent with the President's position on immigration'; a draft memo said 'The TPS program must end for these countries soon … the result of an America first view of the TPS decision' (Ramos v. Wolf, describing the record).","Judge Edward Chen enjoined the terminations for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan on 3 October 2018; Honduras and Nepal were tied to the case in March 2019; a separate New York court enjoined the Haiti termination in April 2019 (USCIS; CLINIC).","On 14 September 2020 a divided Ninth Circuit panel vacated the injunction, holding the APA claim barred by 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(5)(A) and finding no evidence linking the President's animus to the decisions; Judge Christen dissented (Ramos v. Wolf). The plaintiffs sought rehearing en banc, the injunction stayed in effect, and DHS kept extending holders' documentation, eventually through 30 June 2024 (CLINIC; USCIS).","In Mullin v. Doe (25 June 2026), a case on the 2025 Haiti and Syria terminations, the Supreme Court held that the TPS review bar covers all non-constitutional challenges (CRS). That reading is consistent with the Ninth Circuit majority's view that the Ramos APA claim was unreviewable."],"searchAliases":["Ramos v. Nielsen","Saget v. Trump","TPS Haiti 2017","TPS El Salvador termination 2018"],"legalBasis":"INA § 244 (8 U.S.C. § 1254a); APA (claim held unreviewable on appeal); Fifth Amendment equal protection (district court found serious questions; appellate majority disagreed); ICCPR Arts. 17, 23, 24 and 26. No international-crime characterisation is in play.","postureNote":"No final judgment found the terminations unlawful. The district court's preliminary findings of White House pressure and presidential animus were accepted by the Ninth Circuit majority as supported by the record, but the majority found no link to the decisions and vacated the injunction (14 September 2020). The injunction remained in force while rehearing was sought, and the terminations never took effect. The Supreme Court's 2026 ruling in Mullin v. Doe confirms that TPS terminations are largely unreviewable on statutory grounds.","relatedIncidents":["mass-tps-terminations","trump-first-term-shithole-countries-comments","scotus-tps-asylum-rulings-june2026"]}}