A federal judge in Boston has temporarily stopped the Trump administration from withdrawing work authorization from tens of thousands of asylum seekers and immigrants covered by the United States’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programme.
US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton issued the order after immigrant rights organisations and labour unions challenged a series of policies introduced by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to enforce immigration restrictions passed by Congress last year.
The order will remain in effect while the court considers whether the policy should be suspended for a longer period. Gorton is expected to decide that question by August 5.
The dispute centres on provisions contained in a major tax and spending law passed in 2025. For the first time, the legislation introduced fees for asylum applications and imposed new restrictions on employment authorisation for people holding TPS.
TPS allows nationals of countries affected by war, natural disasters and other extraordinary conditions to remain legally in the United States and work there while returning home is considered unsafe.
The Trump administration has been pursuing a broader effort to end TPS protections for nationals of more than a dozen countries. The US Supreme Court recently allowed the administration to terminate the protection for thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants.
The latest lawsuit challenged USCIS policies that could have resulted in thousands of TPS holders from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine losing their ability to work. The plaintiffs argued that the agency had unlawfully applied the new restrictions retroactively, potentially shortening the validity of existing work permits.
The policy was particularly significant because TPS protections for nationals of El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine had been extended during the previous administration. The protections currently remain in place for El Salvador until September 9 and for Sudan and Ukraine until October 19.
The challengers also argued that USCIS had failed to provide the public with an opportunity to comment before adopting the policies, as required under the Administrative Procedure Act. They further contended that the 2025 law did not authorise the agency to apply the new work-authorization restrictions retroactively.
Gorton did not block USCIS from collecting the newly imposed fee. However, he ruled that the agency could not cancel work permits or impose other penalties solely because an individual failed to pay it.
The ruling offers temporary relief to thousands of immigrant families whose ability to work had been placed at risk as the wider legal battle over the administration’s immigration policies continues
