The Trump administration on Monday ended protections for migrants from Honduras and Nicaragua that shielded them from deportation and allowed them to work, its latest effort to strip privileges from migrants since President Trump returned to office.
The decision by the Homeland Security Department to end the protections for migrants from those countries, through a program known as Temporary Protected Status, goes into effect in about two months. The agency estimates that about 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans have T.P.S., though roughly 21,000 Hondurans and 1,100 Nicaraguans have also obtained permanent resident cards, known as green cards. Migrants from those countries had been covered under T.P.S. since 1999.
Mr. Trump has for years criticized the T.P.S. program, which is intended to protect migrants from deportation if their home countries are facing natural disasters or conflict. The government periodically reviews the status but it can be renewed without limit, with the effect of giving migrants the ability to stay for an indefinite period.
“Temporary Protected Status was designed to be just that — temporary,” Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said in a statement. “It is clear that the Government of Honduras has taken all of the necessary steps to overcome the impacts of Hurricane Mitch, almost 27 years ago.”
Citizens of Honduras and Nicaragua first received the protection after the countries were hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
“Honduras has made significant progress recovering from the hurricane’s destruction and is now a popular tourism and real estate investment destination,” the agency said in a federal register notice. The agency said that Honduras had created a program to welcome back its citizens.
The Trump administration has already moved to end T.P.S. for several countries, including Haiti, Venezuela and Afghanistan.
Immigrant advocates said the decision would cause chaos for immigrants who have lived in the United States for a long period of time.
“Just like the decisions for Afghanistan, Haiti and Venezuela, this move by the Trump administration will cast tens of thousands into precarious situations, not to mention the follow-on repercussions for employers and communities who have relied on many from Honduras and Nicaragua who have been living and working here for years,” said Robyn Barnard, a senior director of refugee advocacy at Human Rights First.
Federal courts have blocked the Trump administration’s previous efforts to end the program. Last week, a federal court judge blocked its termination for Haitians, saying that she did not have authority to cut the protections early. In March, a federal judge also blocked cutting T.P.S. for Venezuelans, but that ruling was paused by the Supreme Court in late May.