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us department of homeland security
Ripping DHS Chief's Racism, Judge Extends Protections for 60K Hondurans, Nepalis, and Nicaraguans
"Secretary Noem's statements perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population," the judge wrote, stressing that "color is neither a poison nor a crime."
Aug 01, 2025
"The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty, and the American dream. That is all plaintiffs seek. Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names, and purify their blood. The court disagrees."
That's how U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson began a Thursday order postponing recent moves by President Donald Trump's administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for around 60,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issues TPS designations for countries impacted by war, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions, allowing migrants from those nations to legally live and work in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in June and July that the administration would end TPS for people from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua this summer. The decisions followed similar attempts to terminate those designations during Trump's first term—efforts blocked by U.S. courts and then ended under former President Joe Biden.
"As a TPS holder and mother, this victory means safety, hope, and the chance to keep building our lives here."
When Trump returned to power in January, he issued an executive order titled "Protecting the American People Against Invasion," which was "cited in later decisions vacating or terminating TPS designations," Thompson pointed out. The judge, who was appointed to the Northern District of California by Biden, also highlighted "repeated rhetoric by administration officials that associated immigrants and TPS holders with criminal activity or other undesirable traits."
The 37-page order details some of Noem's comments during her confirmation hearing and news interviews. Thompson wrote that "these statements reflect the secretary's animus against immigrants and the TPS program even though individuals with TPS hold lawful status—a protected status that was expressly conferred by Congress with the purpose of providing humanitarian relief."
"Their presence is not a crime. Rather, TPS holders already live in the United States and have contributed billions to the economy by legally working in jobs, paying taxes, and paying contributions into Medicare and Social Security," she noted. "By stereotyping the TPS program and immigrants as invaders that are criminal, and by highlighting the need for migration management, Secretary Noem's statements perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population."
"Color is neither a poison nor a crime," stressed the judge, who is Black. She concluded that the various TPS holders who are the plaintiffs provided "sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the secretary's TPS Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua terminations were based on a preordained determination to end the TPS program, rather than an objective review of the country conditions."
Thompson ordered the TPS terminations for the three countries postponed until a November 18 hearing on the merits of the case, at which point her decision will be subject to extension.
🚨 JUST IN: A district court has ruled that TPS for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua cannot be terminated at this time — protections will remain in place through at least November 18, 2025 as the case continues.
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— Haitian Bridge Alliance (@haitianbridge.bsky.social) July 31, 2025 at 11:57 PM
"Judge Thompson's decision renews hope for our immigrant communities—especially for the tens of thousands of TPS holders from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal who have lived here for decades and are part of the National TPS Alliance," said Teofilo Martinez, a Honduran TPS holder, plaintiff, and an alliance leader, in a statement.
"This ruling gives us strength, affirms the power of organizing, and reminds us what's at stake: the right to stay in the only home many of us have ever known," Martinez added. "We will keep fighting for permanent protections and to stop the cruel separation of our families."
Sandhya Lama, another plaintiff and TPS holder from Nepal, described the judge's order as "a powerful affirmation of our humanity and our right to live without fear."
"As a TPS holder and mother, this victory means safety, hope, and the chance to keep building our lives here," she said. "We stand united, grateful, and determined to continue the fight for a permanent future in the country we call home."
The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU Foundations of Northern California and Southern California, Haitian Bridge Alliance, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), and Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
"The Trump administration is aggressively, and illegally, seeking to dismantle TPS. But they will not do so without a fight," said ACLU of Northern California attorney Emi MacLean. "Today is a good day. Sixty60,000 long-term residents of the U.S., who have followed all the rules, will be allowed to remain in the U.S. and continue to defend their rights inside and outside of court."
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Faith Groups Sue Trump Admin Over Immigration Raids at Houses of Worship
"Congregations have gone underground to protect their parishioners, eschewing in-person meetings central to their faith," the groups' complaint alleged.
Jul 28, 2025
A large coalition of religious organizations is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for what it describes as a policy that has intimidated their parishioners through the "threat of surveillance, interrogation, or arrest" at houses of worship.
The lawsuit filed by the faith groups argued that churches and other places of worship used to be considered off limits for immigration enforcement actions except in extreme circumstances. However, the complaint noted that all this changed at the start of the second Trump administration, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem drastically loosened restrictions on when and under what circumstances immigration enforcement agents could conduct operations at or near religious institutions.
The result of these changes, the organizations alleged, has been to create a persistent atmosphere of fear among parishioners.
"Churches have seen both attendance and financial giving plummet," the complaint stated. "Congregations have gone underground to protect their parishioners, eschewing in-person meetings central to their faith. Baptisms that previously would have been occasions for communal worship and celebration are now being held in private."
The complaint added that churches have even "quietly stopped advertising immigrant-focused ministries and have canceled programming that served immigrant populations who are now too fearful to attend."
Taken together, the groups alleged that the government's actions violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, as well as the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act that mandates the government use "the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest" that also burdens the free exercise of religion. The organizations closed the lawsuit by asking courts to declare the 2025 immigration policy to be "unconstitutional and otherwise unlawful."
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Central Division, includes multiple synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, including those in New England, the greater Milwaukee area, southwest California, and southwest Texas. Other plaintiffs include the San Francisco Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, the Alliance of Baptists, and Metropolitan Community Churches.
Rev. Lisa Dunson, the president of the Alliance of Baptists' board of directors, argued in a prepared statement that the administration's immigration policies "desecrate sacred spaces, violate religious freedom, and spread fear among those seeking peace and refuge."
"These sanctuaries have long offered welcome, safety, and spiritual nourishment to all," Dunson added. "To invade them with the threat of state violence is a moral failure and a betrayal of constitutional and sacred values alike. Such acts send a chilling message, that no place is safe and that immigrants, refugees, and the marginalized can be targeted even in the house of God."
Bishop Paul Erickson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Greater Milwaukee Synod decried the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's raids on churches as "an unprecedented assault on religious liberty" that is "preventing people of all faiths and citizenship statuses from gathering for prayer and receiving vital services."
Ryan Downer, the legal director for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC), said his group was proud to serve as co-counsel for the plaintiffs given that core issues of religious liberty are at stake.
"This policy... threatens the sanctity of all houses of worship and the religious values of people of faith everywhere," he said. "WLC proudly stands with our clients to ensure that the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom is upheld."
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Advocates, Family Call for Release of Atlanta Journalist Detained in 'Retaliation' for ICE Coverage
José Zamora of the Committee to Protect Journalists called Mario Guevara's arrest "a blatant attack on press freedom."
Jul 22, 2025
Press freedom and immigrants' rights advocates are calling for the release of an Atlanta journalist from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after he was arrested last month while filming an anti-Trump protest.
Mario Guevara, a native of El Salvador, has lived in the United States legally for more than two decades, where he became renowned as one of the Atlanta area's most trusted immigration reporters.
The Guardian described Guevara, an Emmy-winning reporter, as "the person that immigrants call when they see an [ICE] raid going down in their neighborhood."
That was until June 14, when the 47-year-old was snatched up by police while filming an Atlanta area "No Kings" protest and handed over to ICE.
(Video: CNN)
Guevara was charged with traffic offenses related to his coverage of law enforcement activities earlier in the month, but those charges were later dropped. However, Guevara has remained in ICE custody for more than five weeks under a detainer from the immigration agency, which is now attempting to deport him.
On June 24, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claimed that Guevara "is in our country ILLEGALLY." However, he has been granted authorization to work legally in the U.S. while he awaits his green card. He also entered the country through legal processes.
"I'm plainly convinced that my situation in this ICE jail is direct retaliation for my coverage," Guevara told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I haven't committed any crimes."
On July 1, an immigration judge granted Guevara a $7,500 bond for his release. But when his family tried to pay it, ICE refused to accept it and instead placed a stay on his bond, which will keep him in detention until a judge rules on his appeal.
Guevara has since been shuffled between several different ICE facilities, an experience he told the ACJ has left him "emotionally destroyed."
At a press conference held Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists—which has headed the legal effort to free Guevara—José Zamora, the group's director for the Americas, said that Guevara is "the only journalist in prison in the U.S. in direct retaliation for his reporting."
— (Video: Atlanta News First)
"This is a blatant attack on press freedom, on the First Amendment, and on the right of communities, especially immigrant communities, to be informed," Zamora continued. "These communities rely on voices like Mario's to help make sense of the world around them."
Guevara's lawyer, Giovanni Diaz, described the stay placed on Guevara's bond by ICE as a "surprise" to him and the legal team. Though Zamora said he expected that his legal team will ultimately win the appeal, he said it was "a confirmation to us that they wanted to treat Mario very differently than other detained individuals."
But, he said, this is of a piece with how ICE has conducted itself during President Donald Trump's second term.
"The administration has made it perfectly clear that anybody who's not a legal permanent resident at least, or a citizen, even if they've been given certain protections and they've been allowed to remain in the United States legally—ICE has decided that these people are targets as well." Diaz said.
Two of Guevara's children also pleaded for his release.
"My father is a reporter," said Guevara's daughter Katherine. "He chased stories that mattered, stories that told the truth about immigration, about injustice, about people who usually go ignored."
"My dad did nothing wrong. He was arrested while wearing a press badge. He was live streaming. He wasn't in the way. He wasn't breaking any law. He was doing his job," she continued.
"His work wasn't just a job," said Guevara's son, Oscar. "It was a calling. And now he's being punished for answering that call."
Oscar said that his dad's dedication to his work inspired him to become a photojournalist himself.
"We were raised to believe that in this country, freedom of speech mattered, that journalism mattered, that hard work and honesty meant something," he said. "But none of that seems to matter right now."
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