WASHINGTON (OSV News) — A federal appeals court ruled late Jan. 28 that the Trump administration acted illegally when it ended legal protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela and Haiti, both predominantly Catholic countries, to remain in the United States without risk of deportation due to dangerous conditions in their respective homelands.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that found Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acted unlawfully when she ended temporary protected status for Venezuelans. They also upheld a lower court’s ruling that Noem exceeded her authority in ending TPS early for Haiti.
However, the ruling will not have an immediate effect for Venezuelan citizens. The Supreme Court in October allowed Noem’s bid to end TPS to remain in effect while the larger court battle continued.
Haiti’s TPS designation is scheduled to end Feb. 3, and a ruling in a separate lawsuit seeking to pause Haiti’s TPS termination while that lawsuit proceeds has yet to be issued as of Jan. 29.
J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy at the Center for Migration Studies and the former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News, “While the ruling might not provide immediate relief to Venezuelans and Haitians, it does provide a legal basis to appeal to the Supreme Court to lift its initial ruling temporarily upholding the DHS decision.”
“In any case, it provides some hope to these vulnerable groups, who otherwise may be forced to return to very dangerous situations in their home countries,” Appleby said.
In 2025, the Trump administration ended TPS status for countries including Venezuela and Haiti, stripping nationals of those nations of their legal status to remain in the U.S. TPS status is sometimes granted to countries where natural disasters or civil unrest have fueled displacement.
In a joint statement regarding TPS status for Haitians, Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, noted that Haiti remains in a state of crisis in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.
“We are deeply concerned about the plight of our Haitian brothers and sisters living in the United States who will soon have their legal status and work authorization revoked due to the Administration’s termination of TPS for Haiti,” the Bishops said. “There is simply no realistic opportunity for the safe and orderly return of people to Haiti at this time.”
The bishops added they “do not dispute that TPS is intended to be ‘temporary,’ as is often pointed out as a rationale for ending it, which is why we have reaffirmed on so many occasions the need for Congress to create viable opportunities for longtime residents with TPS, regardless of nationality, to request a more durable legal status.
“However, so long as Congress fails in this regard, and the current conditions in Haiti persist, the onus is on the executive branch to act in a just and merciful way,” their statement continued. “The Trump Administration still has the opportunity to do the right thing — to safeguard human life, to uphold the law, and to promote greater stability for people in this country and beyond. TPS was created by Congress with these very goals in mind, and the ongoing conditions in Haiti are precisely the sort warranting TPS. We urge the Administration to act accordingly by extending this vital relief for Haitians.”
Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.
Bishops Zaidan and Cahill added, “Most importantly, we reaffirm the U.S. Church’s solidarity with our Haitian brothers and sisters, wherever they may be. We turn to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Patroness of Haiti, for her intercession; may she always be a source of strength and comfort for the Haitian people.”
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