Yemen TPS extended by US judge, blocking removal of about 3,000 Yemeni refugees

A US federal judge in Manhattan has stopped the Trump administration from removing about 3,000 Yemeni refugees from the United States. Judge Dale E Ho ruled on Friday that their Temporary Protected Status should continue. The protection had been due to expire on Monday. Ho extended it for now while a lawsuit continues.

Representative image

The decision kept in place a programme that lets eligible people stay in the US and avoid removal. It also allows work and travel authorisation. US Citizenship and Immigration Services had said protections for Yemeni refugees would end on Monday. Ho said TPS holders were ordinary, law-abiding people facing safety risks if returned.

Temporary Protected Status ruling blocks Yemen removals

In a 36-page decision, Ho said the US government had already found Yemen was unsafe due to armed conflict. He wrote that returning people could expose them to serious threats. Ho also noted the administration had ended Temporary Protected Status for nine countries. Those countries included Haiti, Venezuela and Ethiopia as the crackdown widened.

Ho criticised former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the steps used to end the status. He wrote that Congress created a process to change or cancel Temporary Protected Status. He said Noem did not follow that process. Ho highlighted Noem’s early December social media post and described it as relevant context.

In that post, Noem wrote: "I was recommending a full travel ban on every damn country thats been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.\" Ho also cited a Feb 13 news release. It said Temporary Protected Status would end for Yemen. The release said letting Yemenis stay was \"contrary to our national interest.\"

Temporary Protected Status decision cites Kristi Noem statement

Ho rejected the characterisation of people covered by the programme. \"TPS holders from Yemen are not killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,\" Ho wrote at the start of his conclusion. He said those affected included 2,810 Yemenis with TPS and 425 who had applied. He described two examples from the case filings.

Ho noted a pregnant 33-year-old Detroit woman due to give birth this month. Ho wrote that the unborn child has a congenital heart condition. Ho said that condition is not treatable in Yemen. Ho also described a 50-year-old former human rights worker in Brooklyn. Ho said the person is a target of Houthi-aligned militias.

Temporary Protected Status case draws response from advocates

The US Justice Department and the US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. Razeen Zaman, director of immigrant rights at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, welcomed the ruling. Zaman said: \"Today, the court has made clear that humanitarian statutes like TPS cannot be used as a deportation pipeline,\"

Zaman said Homeland Security had found it was unsafe for Yemeni refugees to return. Zaman said the protection was ended anyway. Zaman said Ho’s ruling showed protection should rely on facts and conditions on the ground. Zaman said decisions should not depend on political appetite. The comments were issued in a release about the case.

One plaintiff, named only by a pseudonym for safety, described those covered by the lawsuit. The plaintiff wrote that they were \"doctors, engineers, and pilots like myself, and also drivers, deli workers, and countless other people who contribute meaningfully every day, supporting not just our own families but the broader fabric of society.\" The plaintiff also wrote that their presence reflects resilience and dedication.

A woman listed under a pseudonym called Ho’s decision \"a lifeline for my family.\" She added: \"It is the moment we finally breathed a sigh of relief after months of existential anxiety,\" The case sits within a longer policy history. Yemen was first given Temporary Protected Status in 2015. That was about a year after the civil war began.

Ho also referred to other recent court decisions involving people who fled other countries under different conditions. He cited those cases to show similar disputes have reached US courts. For now, the extension keeps Yemeni TPS holders protected from removal as the lawsuit moves forward. The legal challenge will continue under Ho’s supervision.

With inputs from PTI