NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Friday blocked the Trump administration from revoking legal protections for more than 2,800 Yemeni nationals who were allowed to temporarily live and work in the United States. U.S. District Judge Dale Ho ruled in favor of 16 Yemeni nationals who either hold Temporary Protected Status or are applying for the protection, and agreed to keep the TPS program in place while the lawsuit proceeds.

Ho found that the Department of Homeland Security likely acted unlawfully when it moved to end the benefits earlier this year. He concluded that former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem likely violated the law when she failed to adhere to the process mandated by Congress for reviewing a country's conditions before she moved to end TPS for Yemen.

The department "acted unlawfully by terminating TPS in clear disregard of the procedural requirements established by Congress," Ho wrote. He said the process undertaken before the decision to end the program was short-circuited, violating the TPS statute and frustrating the public accountability that the Administrative Procedure Act is designed to protect.

Ho wrote that TPS holders from Yemen are not "killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies. They are ordinary, law-abiding people who have been granted status to be here because the Government has repeatedly determined, in accordance with the TPS statute, that Yemen is subject to an ongoing armed conflict, and that, due to that conflict, requiring them to return would pose a serious threat to their safety." He added that the determination is subject to periodic review and can be changed, but that "Congress has, by statute, established a process for such review, which the Secretary failed to adhere to here." Ho was appointed by former President Joe Biden.

Noem announced in February that the TPS designation for Yemen would be ended. In March, DHS said Yemen still experiences extraordinary and temporary conditions, but said termination was required because it was contrary to the national interest to permit Yemeni nationals to remain temporarily in the United States. The program was set to end on May 4, giving Yemeni immigrants 60 days to leave the country or risk arrest and deportation. Ho's order halts that effective date.

Yemen was first designated for TPS in 2015 during the Obama administration, based on a determination that an ongoing armed conflict made the country unsafe for Yemeni nationals to return to. DHS reauthorized the deportation protections several times, including during the first Trump administration. The most recent redesignation came in 2024, citing an ongoing civil war and humanitarian crises.

Yemen is one of 13 countries for which the Trump administration has revoked TPS. The Supreme Court is considering the administration's effort to roll back TPS protections for Syria and Haiti and heard arguments in that case on Wednesday. A decision is expected by the end of June or early July.

Congress enacted the TPS program in 1990. It gives the homeland security secretary the power to provide temporary, country-specific relief to foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their home countries because of war, natural disaster or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. Relief is limited to up to 18 months, but the secretary can extend designations. Congress restricted eligibility by excluding foreign nationals who have been convicted of a felony or more than one misdemeanor, engaged in drug trafficking, belong to a terrorist group, or whose presence in the United States would endanger national security or foreign policy.