Appeals Court Halts Afghan Deportations—For Now
The Trump administration’s move to strip TPS from nearly 12,000 Afghans is on pause. The legal clock is ticking, and so are lives.
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court issued a one-week stay late Monday to block the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly 12,000 Afghans, hours before the protections were set to expire. The decision buys time for Afghan nationals at risk of deportation and signals a rapidly developing legal fight over the administration’s efforts to narrow immigration protections.
The ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes after the nonprofit advocacy group CASA filed an emergency appeal Monday, arguing that many of the Afghan nationals granted TPS had supported U.S. forces during the war and would face grave threats if returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had announced in May it would terminate Afghanistan’s TPS designation, asserting that “notable improvements” in the country’s security and economy justified ending deportation protections. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, in a Federal Register notice, cited the country’s stabilized conditions following U.S. troop withdrawal as grounds for the revocation.
A district court allowed CASA’s broader legal challenge to proceed but had denied a motion to preserve TPS while the lawsuit played out — prompting the emergency appeal.
The court has now asked both sides to submit legal briefs this week, with a final ruling expected soon.
Temporary Protected Status provides certain foreign nationals with permission to live and work in the United States while their home countries remain unsafe due to war or natural disaster. It does not provide a pathway to citizenship, and the designation must be renewed periodically by the DHS secretary.
While only about 11,700 Afghans are covered under the TPS designation, advocates warn that removing it will endanger many who served alongside U.S. forces or belong to vulnerable groups, including women, Christians, the Hazara Shi’a community, and other religious minorities.
“These individuals are not only our allies, but our friends, employees, and neighbors,” said Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum. “We urge Congress to protect Afghans by providing them permanent status — a commitment that is long overdue.”
Trump administration officials and supporters, however, argue the TPS program has been abused to provide indefinite legal presence. “The ‘T’ is there for a reason,” said Andrew Arthur, resident fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. “It’s supposed to be temporary.”
But human rights and refugee advocates counter that conditions in Afghanistan remain dire. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has warned of systemic persecution under the Taliban regime, citing arbitrary detention and torture of religious minorities. “These religious communities, if forced to return to Afghanistan, face the grave risk of persecution, torture, or other serious human rights violations,” said USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck.
Monday’s last-minute stay also offers temporary relief to Afghans like those attending Apostles Raleigh, a North Carolina church whose congregation includes families on humanitarian parole. Julie Tisdale, a church member, said one Afghan asylum claim was recently rejected, in part due to DHS's assertion that Afghanistan is now safe. “We just celebrated the 4th of July,” she said. “And the story that we all learn when we’re six in school is about people coming to America for religious freedom. That is all these people are doing.”
Sources:
Associated Press, “With temporary protections for some Afghans set to expire, appeals court steps in,” July 15, 2025
WORLD News Group, “The ‘T’ is there for a reason,” July 15, 2025