Trump yanks deportation protections for 50,000 Nicaraguans, Hondurans

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jul 7, 2025

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The Trump administration Monday ended protections from deportation for about 50,000 immigrants from Honduras and Nicaragua, most of whom have lived and worked in the U.S. for more than 25 years.

The Department of Homeland Security said it has revoked temporary protective status from people from the two Central American nations who were allowed to stay in the U.S. after a devastating hurricane hit the region in 1998.

The push means immigration authorities may deport people previously covered by the status as part of Trump’s mass deportation plan aimed at booting up to 20 million undocumented immigrants, starting in about two months.

TPS was previously revoked for about 500,000 Haitians who came to the U.S. after a massive earthquake struck in 2010, along with similar edicts that allowed large groups of Venezuelans and Ukrainians, among other nationalities.

About 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans were granted the status, but about half those people have since obtained legal status to remain in the U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she determined the humanitarian situation in the two countries has improved enough that people currently protected by those temporary designations could return home.

Jose Palma, co-coordinator at the National TPS Alliance, said the move was counterproductive.

“It is a community that has shown … all its contributions to this country,” Palma said. “It’s cruel what’s happening.”

The move will likely be challenged in court by immigration advocates, who last week won a court order delaying Trump’s removal of TPS from Haitians for several months.

Temporary protections for both countries were initially granted in 1999 following 1998’s Hurricane Mitch. The first Trump administration attempted to end the protections, but they both remained in place after litigation.

Honduras Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio García expressed disappointment at the announcement, saying it was designed to satisfy anti-immigrant sentiment of Trump’s supporters.

“They came to power with that, and they’re getting it done for their electorate,” he said.

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