On July 8, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a subagency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), published two Federal Register notices announcing that DHS is terminating the designation of Temporary Protected Status for both Honduras and Nicaragua. The TPS designations for both countries were set to expire on July 5, 2025. The Trump administration has decided not to renew these designations, which have been renewed continuously since December 30, 1998. Both notices cite a change in country conditions—namely that conditions in the country have improved—allowing nationals of both countries to return. The termination of the program will be effective 60 days after issuance of the notice, on September 8, 2025, after which Honduran and Nicaraguan TPS holders will be required to depart the United States. There are an estimated 55,520 approved individuals with TPS from Honduras and Nicaragua.  

Impact: TPS is a form of administrative immigration relief that is determined and implemented by the executive branch, although the authority for TPS is authorized by statute. Those who qualify for TPS are issued a registration document and are protected from deportation while a TPS designation is in place for their country of origin, and they are eligible to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (i.e. a work permit), allowing them to be employed lawfully and (in practice) have workplace rights, for the period during which the TPS designation remains active. Many of the 55,520 individuals with TPS who will be impacted have resided in the United States for two and a half decades, are employed and union members, and have U.S. citizen children. Because of DHS’s decision to terminate TPS for Honduras and Nicaragua, they will lose their work authorization and be facing deportation. This will also causing employers to lose their legally employed workers, likely pushing workers into the informal labor market in order to survive, which will degrade wages and working conditions for all workers.  

Project 2025 reference: TPS – pages 145, 150