A federal appeals court in Washington has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s effort to strip deportation protections from more than 300,000 Haitian migrants, extending their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) until at least Monday. The ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday denied the government’s request to stay a lower court order that had paused the TPS revocations while litigation proceeds.
The order, issued by a panel that includes two judges nominated by former President Biden and one by President Trump during his first term, blocks the administration from ending TPS for Haitians before July 27. The judges concluded that the Justice Department had not demonstrated sufficient grounds for an immediate stay, particularly given that the Supreme Court is expected to return the case to the appeals court on that date.
“They have not shown that a stay of the district court’s February 2, 2026 order pending the Supreme Court’s return of the case to this court is warranted, particularly given that the case will be returned to this court on July 27, 2026,” the panel wrote in its brief order.
The Trump administration had pressed the appeals court earlier this month to vacate the lower court’s injunction, arguing that the decision was legally flawed and that there was “no reason to prolong the effect” of the interim ruling following the Supreme Court’s reversal. In a filing, the Justice Department asserted that “each day the district court’s unlawful decision remains in effect irreversibly blocks the Executive Branch by preventing it from implementing its lawful decision.” The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, ruled in late June that federal courts lacked jurisdiction to hear non-constitutional challenges to the administration’s TPS terminations, effectively giving the green light to proceed with the policy. The ruling came as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to rescind TPS for hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries from nearly a dozen countries, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from immigrant advocates and some lawmakers.
TPS, established in 1990, grants temporary legal status and work authorization to nationals from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions that make safe return impossible. The Trump administration has argued that conditions in Haiti no longer warrant the designation, despite a State Department travel advisory warning Americans against visiting the Caribbean nation due to “crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and limited health care.”
The administration’s broader push to end TPS for over a million holders from countries including El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Sudan remains in legal limbo following the high court’s decision. Meanwhile, the D.C. Circuit’s latest order provides a brief reprieve for Haitians, but their long-term status remains uncertain as the legal battle continues.
The panel’s decision comes amid a backdrop of heightened political tensions over immigration policy. President Trump has made border security a central theme of his second term, and his approval ratings have dipped to 36% according to a recent poll, with a majority disapproving of his performance. The administration has also faced scrutiny over other policy moves, including a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that has sparked nonproliferation fears and a plan to sell early access to the president’s social media posts that drew criticism from GOP senators.
