LexBlog (LexBlog Honduras)

Just a few weeks ago, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delivered its long-awaited judgment in Leonela Zelaya and Other v Honduras, concerning Leonela Zelaya’s transfemicide. Leonela Zelaya was born in Cortés, on Honduras’ northern coast. Estranged from her family and expelled from her home, she moved to Tegucigalpa in her twenties, where she engaged...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has reversed a lower court’s order vacating the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, reinstating the DHS termination. In granting the stay pending appeal, the Ninth Circuit concluded the government is likely to succeed on the...

In our recent post on Through the Immigration Lens, we discussed the uncertainty created after the district court’s December 31, 2025 decision restoring Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for beneficiaries from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua, and the resulting confusion for employers attempting to navigate Form I-9 compliance. The court decision left many employers in an I‑9...

By: Dawn M. Lurie, Alexander J. Madrak, and Selene Malench* On December 31, 2025, a federal court ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. This decision restored protections for approximately 60,000 TPS holders. As expected, the government has appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals....

On Dec. 31, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decisions to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, finding that the terminations violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court concluded that DHS failed to conduct an objective assessment of...

View English Version here El Tribunal de Apelaciones del Noveno Circuito le permitió al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (“DHS” por “Department of Homeland Security”) siguiera adelante con la extinción del Estatus de Protección Temporal  (“TPS” por “Temporary Protected Status”) correspondiente a Honduras y a Nicaragua a partir del 8 de septiembre de 2025. Un tribunal...

View English Version Here El  8 de julio, la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional Kristi Noem anunció la extinción del Estatus de Protección Temporal (“TPS” por “Temporary Protected Status”) correspondiente a Honduras y a Nicaragua.  La extinción del “TPS” para Honduras y Nicaragua entrará en vigor el 8 de septiembre de 2025. El Departamento de Seguridad...

Ver la versión en español aquí The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to move forward with its termination of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for Honduras and Nicaragua effective September 8, 2025. A district court had postponed the termination of TPS until November 18, 2025. The Ninth Circuit stayed the...

No action is required just yet, but employers and stakeholders should be aware of a significant development in the ongoing litigation surrounding Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. We expect an update from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shortly, notifying employers of a shortened expiration date for work authorization. Ninth Circuit...

In a major legal development, a federal judge in the Northern District of California has postponed the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. This decision, issued on July 31, 2025, blocks the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending TPS for these countries and extends work authorization for...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement after a federal judge in California postponed the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, finding the cancellation was rooted in “racial animus.”  Expect an appeal. KJ

NPR reports that a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from terminating Temporary Protected Status for citizens of Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal. The decision delays the terminations of TPS until November and affects about 60,000 immigrants, many of whom have been living in the U.S. for years. Here is the court order. KJ  

View English Version Here. Honduras y Nicaragua El día 7 de julio de 2025, el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (“DHS” por “Department of Homeland Security”) aún no había tomado una determinación sobre si Honduras y/o Nicaragua siguen satisfaciendo las condiciones para la designación del Estatus de Protección Temporal (“TPS” por “Temporary Protected Status”). De acuerdo...

By: Dawn Lurie As we have covered in prior blog posts on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as it continues to evolve, this week brings significant developments. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the termination of TPS designations for Honduras and Nicaragua via separate press releases. The Federal Register notices followed on July 8th (Honduras...

Ver la versión en español aquí On July 8, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for Honduras and Nicaragua. The termination of TPS for Honduras and Nicaragua will take effect on September 8, 2025. The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) published the termination notices in the July...

Guest blogger: Nurj Kaalim, Masters in Migration Studies student, University of San Francisco: One Wednesday evening, I sat in a circle in a room with classmates and professors, listening to an activist from Honduras’ Women’s Forum talk about courage, fear, and the importance of crossing borders, as well as standing in solidarity with “luchas en...

Friends I posted my recent article on SSRN: In Search of Strategies to Address Violence in Central America Here. AbstractThe need to address root causes of migration in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador—often referred to as the Northern Triangle—is the primary focus of this article. Specifically, violence as the root cause of migration is my...

In his debut book Mi muerte a través de la frontera , author Adonay Milla describes the dangerous journey he made from Honduras to the United States when he was a teenager, his struggles living in New York and fighting for status, and the central role Safe Passage Project played in his life. For those...

Guest blogger: Tay Ingersoll, graduate of the University of San Francisco Masters in Migration Studies Program (MIMS)             From September 9th-18th 2023, MIMS students Tay Ingersoll and Olusola Akanni & MIMS Professor Amy Argenal accompanied the SHARE Foundation to Honduras as part of an interfaith delegation. This specific visit was to commemorate the 40 year...

  NPR reports that climate migration has arrived.  Drought and erratic rainfall are undermining agriculture in Honduras, pushing young people to leave home in search of a more secure future. NPR’s journalists Joel Rose and Marisa Peñaloza talked with Honduran families in rural towns and villages who shared their stories on Morning Edition. Listen to the first...

Today on NPR’s Up First, Marisa Peñaloza and Joel Rose dive into the issue of climate migration and how the changing environment is changing migration from Honduras. The earth has reached the highest temperature ever recorded. This story looks at how extreme weather in Honduras has influenced migration patterns. In addition to listening to the...

As part of its enforcement activities, the Food and Drug Administration sends warning letters to entities under its jurisdiction. Some letters are not posted for public view until weeks or months after they are sent. Business owners have 15 days to respond to FDA warning letters. Warning letters often are not issued until a company...

Last week, a father of four cruising on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship died in Roatan during a stop in that port after he dove into the water from an elevated structure of a pier. Edmund David Rucker, believed to be 52 years of age, was with his wife and family when the tragic accident...

Refugees Under Duress: International Law and the Serious Nonpolitical Crime Bar by David Baluarte, 9 Belmont Law Review 2 (2022) Abstract Kevin Euceda was forcibly recruited by the MS-13 gang when he was just thirteen years old. Kevin was destitute after being abandoned by his parents in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and the gang commandeered...

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons The Los Angeles Times reports on the arrest of the former President of Honduras on drug trafficking charges.  He had been one of the U.S.’s top allies in Central America. U.S. prosecutors identified President Juan Orlando Hernández as a co-conspirator in a drug smuggling case against his brother.  But the...

From Alianza Americas: Arrest of Honduras Ex-President After Extradition Request Points to How U.S Policy has Backfired in Central America  WASHINGTON – Alianza Americas welcomes the U.S. government’s formal request to extradite the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on drug trafficking charges and his subsequent arrest by Honduras authorities on Feb. 15. Although this is...

From Immigration Hub President Biden Can Deliver on His Campaign Promise and Blueprint to Manage Migration by Extending TPS to America’s Immigrant Workers WASHINGTON, DC – This time last year in response to the former administration’s reprehensible treatment and approach to immigrants and refugees, President Biden outlined through an executive order his administration’s plan to address the root...

The European Commission has tightened the rules around imports of Galia melons from Honduras because of a recent Salmonella outbreak. Emergence of a risk to human health because of possible Salmonella Braenderup contamination means official controls are to be increased with identity and physical checks on 10 percent of consignments entering the EU beginning Jan. 6. The...

Today, the Harmony of the Seas arrived in Roatan, Honduras with forty-nine (49) crew members who tested positive for COVID-19. There was one guest who also tested positive, for a total of fifty people on this Royal Caribbean ship (I tweeted earlier, in error, that there were fifty crew members who tested positive). The actual...

The Carnival Vista arrived in the port of Roatan, Honduras this morning with at least fifty (50) crew members who tested positive for COVID-19. One guest on the Carnival cruise ship also tested positive. The ship reportedly did not allow any crew members to go ashore. Only passengers were allowed to disembark. This information was...