On May 12, 2025, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced that she will not renew Afghanistan's Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, meaning that the designation, including work authorization documents, will expire July 12, 2025.
Secretary Noem said, "Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country. Additionally, the termination furthers the national interest as DHS records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security. Reviewing TPS designations is a key part of restoring integrity in our immigration system."
Prior to publication of the May 13 DHS notice in the Federal Register (which provides a July 14, 2025 termination date), Citizens Assisting and Sheltering the Abused (CASA) de Maryland, an immigrant advocacy group, filed suit on May 7, 2025 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to prevent termination of Afghanistan TPS and Cameroon TPS in anticipation of a Federal Register notice being published terminating TPS for both countries.
In its complaint, CASA states, "A TPS designation cannot be terminated in this manner.... Instead, Congress established a strict process for terminating TPS designations, one that required [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem to publish notice of her decision in the Federal Register at least 60 days before the current designation period ends.... The statute further prescribes what happens when the Secretary fails to follow that process: the TPS designation is automatically extended for at least another six months."
The group also said the decision was made in part based on "racial animus," pointing to plans to lift protections for immigrants from non-white nations, while opening the refugee program to Afrikaners in South Africa.
Similar legal challenges were brought against Secretary Noem's efforts to terminate TPS for Haiti and Venezuela. (See New Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Termination of TPS for Haiti and Venezuela and Judge Blocks DHS Secretary Noem's Termination of Venezuelan TPS.)
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