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R.;", "paragraph_id": "para_7" }, { "text": "HENDRINA VIVAS CASTILLO; VILES", "paragraph_id": "para_8" }, { "text": "DORSAINVIL; A.C.A.; SHERIKA", "paragraph_id": "para_9" }, { "text": "BLANC,", "paragraph_id": "para_10" }, { "text": "Plaintiffs - Appellees,", "paragraph_id": "para_11" }, { "text": "v.", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "KRISTI NOEM; UNITED STATES", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "SECURITY; UNITED STATES OF", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "AMERICA,", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "Defendants - Appellants.", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "No. 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "D.C. No.", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "3:25-cv-01766-EMC", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "Northern District of California,", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "San Francisco", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "ORDER", "paragraph_id": "para_23" }, { "text": "Before: Kim McLane Wardlaw, Salvador Mendoza, Jr., and Anthony D.", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "Johnstone, Circuit Judges.", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "On September 5, 2025, the district court granted summary judgment to", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "Plaintiffs, National TPS Alliance (“NTPSA”) and individual Temporary Protective", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "Status (“TPS”) holders, holding that Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”)", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "Secretary Kristi Noem’s vacatur and termination of Venezuela’s TPS status", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "“exceeded the Secretary’s statutory authority and was arbitrary and capricious, and", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "thus must be set aside under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”).” Nat’l", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "FILED", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "SEP 17 2025", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "U.S. COURT OF APPEALS", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "2 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "TPS Alliance v. Noem, --- F. Supp. 3d. ---, 2025 WL 2578045, at *1 (N.D. Cal.", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "Sept. 5, 2025). More than 600,000 Venezuelan citizens living in the United States", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "rely on the protections provided by Venezuela’s TPS status. The real people", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "affected by the Secretary’s actions are spouses and parents of U.S. citizens,", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "neighbors in our communities, and contributing members of society who have", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "“lower rates of criminality and higher rates of college education and workforce", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "participation than the general population.” Id. at *35. Vacating and terminating", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "Venezuela’s TPS status threw the future of these Venezuelan citizens into disarray,", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "and exposed them to a substantial risk of wrongful removal, separation from their", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "families, and loss of employment. Congress did not contemplate such a result, and", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "we decline to take the extraordinary step of staying the district court’s order as the", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "Government Defendants (“Government”) request.", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "On March 31, 2025, the district court entered an order postponing Secretary", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "Noem’s decision to vacate prior DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s designation", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "and extension of Venezuela’s TPS status. See Dkt. 93 (Order Granting Plaintiffs’", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "Mot. to Postpone), Nat’l TPS Alliance v. Noem, No. 25-cv-01766 (N.D. Cal. Mar.", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "31, 2025). The Government filed a notice of appeal of the March 31 order and also", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "sought an emergency stay before our Court, which we denied. Nat’l TPS Alliance", "paragraph_id": "para_54" }, { "text": "v. Noem, 2025 WL 1142444, at *1 (9th Cir. Apr. 18, 2025). The Government then", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "filed an application for a stay in the Supreme Court, which the Court granted.", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "3 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "Noem v. Nat’l TPS Alliance, 145 S. Ct. 2728, 2728-29 (2025). The Court’s order", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "provided:", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "The application for stay presented to Justice Kagan and by her", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "referred to the Court is granted. The March 31, 2025 order entered by", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "the United States District Court for the Northern District of California,", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "case No. 3:25-cv1766, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court. This", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "order is without prejudice to any challenge to Secretary Noem’s", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "February 3, 2025 vacatur notice insofar as it purports to invalidate", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "EADs, Forms I-797, Notices of Action, and Forms I-94 issued with", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "October 2, 2026 expiration dates. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(d)(3). Justice", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "Jackson would deny the application.", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "We held argument on the merits on July 16, 2025, and on August 29, 2025,", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "we issued our opinion holding that Secretary Noem’s vacatur of Venezuela’s TPS", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "violated the APA given that “the TPS statute does not authorize the vacatur of a", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "prior grant of TPS.” Nat’l TPS Alliance v. Noem, --- F.4th ---, 2025 WL 2487771,", "paragraph_id": "para_78" }, { "text": "at *15 (9th Cir. Aug. 29, 2025) (NTPSA I). We affirmed the district court’s", "paragraph_id": "para_79" }, { "text": "postponement, under APA § 705, of that unauthorized action. The Government", "paragraph_id": "para_80" }, { "text": "did not file a petition for writ of certiorari.", "paragraph_id": "para_81" }, { "text": "Thereafter, on September 5, 2025, the district court granted summary", "paragraph_id": "para_82" }, { "text": "judgment to Plaintiffs on two APA claims: (1) a challenge to Secretary Noem’s", "paragraph_id": "para_83" }, { "text": "vacatur of Venezuela’s TPS extension, which was granted by Secretary Mayorkas", "paragraph_id": "para_84" }, { "text": "4 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_85" }, { "text": "on January 17, 2025, and (2) a challenge to Secretary Noem’s decision to terminate", "paragraph_id": "para_86" }, { "text": "Venezuela’s TPS status. Plaintiffs did not move for summary judgment on their", "paragraph_id": "para_87" }, { "text": "Equal Protection claims, and the district court denied the Government’s motion for", "paragraph_id": "para_88" }, { "text": "summary judgment on those claims.1 The Government filed a new notice of appeal", "paragraph_id": "para_89" }, { "text": "of this judgment and moved before the district court for a stay of enforcement of", "paragraph_id": "para_90" }, { "text": "the district court’s judgment pending appeal, which the district court denied on", "paragraph_id": "para_91" }, { "text": "September 10, 2025. The Government then filed an emergency motion in our", "paragraph_id": "para_92" }, { "text": "court on September 12, 2025, seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay", "paragraph_id": "para_93" }, { "text": "pending appeal of the district court’s order. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.", "paragraph_id": "para_94" }, { "text": "§ 1291, and for the reasons discussed herein, we deny the Government’s motion.2", "paragraph_id": "para_95" }, { "text": "I. THE SUPREME COURT’S MAY 19, 2025 STAY", "paragraph_id": "para_96" }, { "text": "As a threshold matter, we reject the Government’s argument that the", "paragraph_id": "para_97" }, { "text": "Supreme Court’s May 19, 2025 order staying the district court’s March 31, 2025", "paragraph_id": "para_98" }, { "text": "postponement order “squarely control[s]” the outcome of its stay motion. That", "paragraph_id": "para_99" }, { "text": "argument ignores the text of the Supreme Court’s order and the reality that the", "paragraph_id": "para_100" }, { "text": "Supreme Court did not have the benefit of reviewing the now more fully developed", "paragraph_id": "para_101" }, { "text": "1 The district court also granted summary judgment on Plaintiffs’ claims related to", "paragraph_id": "para_102" }, { "text": "Secretary Noem’s vacatur and termination of Haiti’s TPS status. The Government", "paragraph_id": "para_103" }, { "text": "does not seek a stay of that portion of the judgment.", "paragraph_id": "para_104" }, { "text": "2 The Government moved for an administrative stay and a stay pending appeal, but", "paragraph_id": "para_105" }, { "text": "did not distinguish between the two requests in briefing. Because we deny the stay", "paragraph_id": "para_106" }, { "text": "pending appeal, the request for an administrative stay is denied as well.", "paragraph_id": "para_107" }, { "text": "5 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_108" }, { "text": "record on which the district court’s summary judgment order relied.", "paragraph_id": "para_109" }, { "text": "First, the Supreme Court’s stay order was textually limited to “[t]he March", "paragraph_id": "para_110" }, { "text": "31, 2025 order entered by the” district court, Noem v. Nat’l TPS Alliance, et al.,", "paragraph_id": "para_111" }, { "text": "145 S. Ct. 2728, 2728-29 (2025), and the appeal of that order to our court. As the", "paragraph_id": "para_112" }, { "text": "district court recognized, that order “did not bar [the district court] from", "paragraph_id": "para_113" }, { "text": "adjudicating the case on the merits and entering a final judgment issuing relief", "paragraph_id": "para_114" }, { "text": "under… the APA.” Nat’l TPS Alliance v. Noem, --- F. Supp. 3d. ---, 2025 WL", "paragraph_id": "para_115" }, { "text": "2578045, at *41, n.23 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 5, 2025).", "paragraph_id": "para_116" }, { "text": "Second, the Supreme Court granted the stay of the March 31, 2025", "paragraph_id": "para_117" }, { "text": "postponement order without explanation. The Government argues that the stay", "paragraph_id": "para_118" }, { "text": "“predict[s] that the government would prevail on the merits.” We do not read the", "paragraph_id": "para_119" }, { "text": "stay order that way. As the Court recently reiterated, its “interim orders are not", "paragraph_id": "para_120" }, { "text": "conclusive as to the merits.” Trump v. Boyle, 606 U.S. ---, 145 S. Ct. 2653, 2653-", "paragraph_id": "para_121" }, { "text": "54 (2025). And while the Court’s interim orders do “inform how a court should", "paragraph_id": "para_122" }, { "text": "exercise its equitable discretion in like cases,” Boyle, 145 S. Ct. at 2654, they do so", "paragraph_id": "para_123" }, { "text": "through analysis that is lacking in the stay order here. Boyle concerned the", "paragraph_id": "para_124" }, { "text": "President’s power to remove commissioners of the Consumer Products Safety", "paragraph_id": "para_125" }, { "text": "Commission (“CPSC”) subject to for-cause removal protections. A mere two", "paragraph_id": "para_126" }, { "text": "months before Boyle was decided, in Trump v. Wilcox, the Supreme Court stayed", "paragraph_id": "para_127" }, { "text": "an injunction preventing the President from removing officers of the National", "paragraph_id": "para_128" }, { "text": "6 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_129" }, { "text": "Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) and Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”).", "paragraph_id": "para_130" }, { "text": "145 S. Ct. 1415 (2025). Boyle held that the stay was “squarely controlled” by the", "paragraph_id": "para_131" }, { "text": "short opinion in Wilcox given that both cases had substantially similar facts and", "paragraph_id": "para_132" }, { "text": "turned on the same equities: “that the Government faces greater risk of harm from", "paragraph_id": "para_133" }, { "text": "an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power", "paragraph_id": "para_134" }, { "text": "than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her", "paragraph_id": "para_135" }, { "text": "statutory duty.” Boyle, 145 S. Ct. at 2654 (quoting Wilcox, 145 S. Ct. at 1415).", "paragraph_id": "para_136" }, { "text": "Unlike the way in which the reasoning in Wilcox informed the decision in", "paragraph_id": "para_137" }, { "text": "Boyle, the unreasoned stay order in this case provides no analysis to inform our", "paragraph_id": "para_138" }, { "text": "view of the equities in this posture and on this record. We can only guess as to the", "paragraph_id": "para_139" }, { "text": "Court’s rationale when it provides none. Perhaps the Court found that the record", "paragraph_id": "para_140" }, { "text": "was not developed sufficiently as to the issue of irreparable harm to the Plaintiffs.", "paragraph_id": "para_141" }, { "text": "Perhaps it was concerned about our jurisdiction. Therefore, without more, we", "paragraph_id": "para_142" }, { "text": "cannot say that the Court’s May 19, 2025 order “squarely control[s]” our decision", "paragraph_id": "para_143" }, { "text": "on a later, distinct emergency stay motion, presented in a different procedural", "paragraph_id": "para_144" }, { "text": "posture and on a different record.", "paragraph_id": "para_145" }, { "text": "Third, this is an appeal from a final order of judgment of a materially", "paragraph_id": "para_146" }, { "text": "different case, based on a fully developed record. This judgment is a set-aside of", "paragraph_id": "para_147" }, { "text": "agency action under APA § 706, not a mere postponement. Moreover, neither we,", "paragraph_id": "para_148" }, { "text": "nor the Supreme Court, had the benefit of discovery when we reviewed the district", "paragraph_id": "para_149" }, { "text": "7 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_150" }, { "text": "court’s order postponing the Secretary’s vacatur. The record before us today is", "paragraph_id": "para_151" }, { "text": "different in several material respects from the one before the district court in", "paragraph_id": "para_152" }, { "text": "March. See Dkt. 296 (Order Denying Defendants’ Mot. to Stay) at 3, Nat. TPS", "paragraph_id": "para_153" }, { "text": "Alliance v. Noem, No. 25-cv-01766 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 10, 2025) (summarizing", "paragraph_id": "para_154" }, { "text": "evidence elicited in discovery and distinguishing the record the Supreme Court", "paragraph_id": "para_155" }, { "text": "considered in May from the record upon which the district court based its summary", "paragraph_id": "para_156" }, { "text": "judgment order). In short, discovery has revealed that DHS ran a barebones", "paragraph_id": "para_157" }, { "text": "process, “acting with unprecedented haste and in an unprecedented manner… for", "paragraph_id": "para_158" }, { "text": "the preordained purpose of expediting termination of Venezuela’s TPS” status.", "paragraph_id": "para_159" }, { "text": "2025 WL 2578045, at *29. Neither we nor the Supreme Court had the benefit of", "paragraph_id": "para_160" }, { "text": "reviewing this evidence when the Government first sought an emergency stay of", "paragraph_id": "para_161" }, { "text": "the district court’s March 31 postponement order.", "paragraph_id": "para_162" }, { "text": "II. JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW", "paragraph_id": "para_163" }, { "text": "The Government raises largely the same challenges to our jurisdiction that", "paragraph_id": "para_164" }, { "text": "we rejected in NTPSA I. First, the Government argues that 8 U.S.C.", "paragraph_id": "para_165" }, { "text": "§ 1254a(b)(5)(A) bars judicial review of “any determinations—that is,", "paragraph_id": "para_166" }, { "text": "determinations of whatever kind—with respect to TPS terminations.” As we have", "paragraph_id": "para_167" }, { "text": "explained, “[t]he extent of statutory authority granted to the Secretary is a first", "paragraph_id": "para_168" }, { "text": "order question that is not a ‘determination … with respect to the designation, or", "paragraph_id": "para_169" }, { "text": "termination or extension’ of a country for TPS.” NTPSA I, at *10. We reject the", "paragraph_id": "para_170" }, { "text": "8 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_171" }, { "text": "Government’s argument that NTPSA I “is likely to be vacated as moot… so it", "paragraph_id": "para_172" }, { "text": "should not control the Court’s assessment of the government’s likelihood of", "paragraph_id": "para_173" }, { "text": "success in this appeal.”", "paragraph_id": "para_174" }, { "text": "The Government also reasserts its argument that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1) bars", "paragraph_id": "para_175" }, { "text": "our review of the Secretary’s actions. Our circuit has already squarely resolved", "paragraph_id": "para_176" }, { "text": "this issue, see Imm. Def’s v. Noem, 145 F.4th 972, 989 (9th Cir. 2025), and we", "paragraph_id": "para_177" }, { "text": "decline to revisit it today. Although some Justices have expressed doubts as to", "paragraph_id": "para_178" }, { "text": "whether the remedy issued in this case under the APA is barred by Section", "paragraph_id": "para_179" }, { "text": "1252(f)(1), see United States v. Texas, 599 U.S. 670, 690-92, 695-701 (2023)", "paragraph_id": "para_180" }, { "text": "(Gorsuch, J. concurring), the Court has yet to resolve this question. There are very", "paragraph_id": "para_181" }, { "text": "good reasons to read Section 1252(f)(1) to permit “challenges to actions that fall", "paragraph_id": "para_182" }, { "text": "outside of a statutory grant of authority.” NTPSA I, at *11.", "paragraph_id": "para_183" }, { "text": "We have jurisdiction to review the Secretary’s actions and consider the", "paragraph_id": "para_184" }, { "text": "following factors in deciding the Government’s motion: “(1) whether the stay", "paragraph_id": "para_185" }, { "text": "applicant has made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2)", "paragraph_id": "para_186" }, { "text": "whether the applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay; (3) whether", "paragraph_id": "para_187" }, { "text": "issuance of the stay will substantially injure the other parties interested in the", "paragraph_id": "para_188" }, { "text": "proceeding; and (4) where the public interest lies.” Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418,", "paragraph_id": "para_189" }, { "text": "426 (2009) (quoting Hilton v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 776 (1987). “The burden", "paragraph_id": "para_190" }, { "text": "of demonstrating that these factors weigh[] in favor of a stay [lies] with the", "paragraph_id": "para_191" }, { "text": "9 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_192" }, { "text": "proponent” of the stay. Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes, 111 F.4th 976, 981 (9th Cir.", "paragraph_id": "para_193" }, { "text": "2024) (per curiam).", "paragraph_id": "para_194" }, { "text": "III. LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS", "paragraph_id": "para_195" }, { "text": "A. First APA Claim", "paragraph_id": "para_196" }, { "text": "As we previously held, the Government’s argument that it has “inherent", "paragraph_id": "para_197" }, { "text": "authority” to reconsider Venezuela’s TPS extension is predicated on a clear", "paragraph_id": "para_198" }, { "text": "misapprehension of our circuit’s case law and is irreconcilable with the text and", "paragraph_id": "para_199" }, { "text": "purpose of the TPS statute. See NTPSA I, at *12 (distinguishing the FCC’s", "paragraph_id": "para_200" }, { "text": "inherent authority to revoke telecommunications certificates from the Secretary’s", "paragraph_id": "para_201" }, { "text": "inability to revoke a TPS designation or extension because “the statutory", "paragraph_id": "para_202" }, { "text": "framework for the issuance of telecommunications certificates… provides [for] no", "paragraph_id": "para_203" }, { "text": "time limitation at all, [which] ‘is a factor that weighs in favor of an implied power", "paragraph_id": "para_204" }, { "text": "of revocation.’”) (quoting China Unicom (Ams.) Ops. Ltd. v. FCC, 124 F.4th 1128,", "paragraph_id": "para_205" }, { "text": "1148 (9th Cir. 2024)) (emphasis removed). To hold that the Government could", "paragraph_id": "para_206" }, { "text": "simply vacate any designation or extension of a prior TPS designation on the", "paragraph_id": "para_207" }, { "text": "whims of shifting political winds would undermine Congress’s careful choice to", "paragraph_id": "para_208" }, { "text": "balance the “predictability and stability” of TPS status “with temporal limits.” Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_209" }, { "text": "at *14, n.9.", "paragraph_id": "para_210" }, { "text": "Separately, the district court found that Secretary Noem’s vacatur, if she had", "paragraph_id": "para_211" }, { "text": "such authority, was arbitrary and capricious. The Government does not", "paragraph_id": "para_212" }, { "text": "10 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_213" }, { "text": "meaningfully engage with the district court’s conclusion that a primary rationale", "paragraph_id": "para_214" }, { "text": "for Secretary Noem’s vacatur—that “vacatur [was] warranted to untangle the", "paragraph_id": "para_215" }, { "text": "confusion” of consolidating the 2021 and 2023 TPS designations—was squarely", "paragraph_id": "para_216" }, { "text": "contradicted by evidence that the consolidations were “not novel, did not engender", "paragraph_id": "para_217" }, { "text": "confusion, and [were] not ‘thin’ in explanation.” Nat’l TPS Alliance v. Noem, ---", "paragraph_id": "para_218" }, { "text": "F. Supp. 3d ---, 2025 WL 2578045, at *27 (quoting 90 Fed. Reg. 8805, at 8807).", "paragraph_id": "para_219" }, { "text": "Discovery revealed that effectively none of DHS’s normal procedures was", "paragraph_id": "para_220" }, { "text": "followed with respect to the vacatur and termination of Venezuela’s TPS status.", "paragraph_id": "para_221" }, { "text": "For example, a 2020 Governmental Accountability Office (“GAO”) Report details", "paragraph_id": "para_222" }, { "text": "“the general process that DHS has long followed when a TPS designation is", "paragraph_id": "para_223" }, { "text": "subject to periodic review.” Id. at *4. Specifically, “DHS’s practice is to collect", "paragraph_id": "para_224" }, { "text": "four documents to inform each TPS decision,” including “a country conditions", "paragraph_id": "para_225" }, { "text": "report compiled by USCIS,” “a memo with a recommendation from the USCIS", "paragraph_id": "para_226" }, { "text": "Director to the DHS Secretary,” “a country conditions report compiled by the State", "paragraph_id": "para_227" }, { "text": "Department,” and “a letter with a recommendation from the Secretary of State to", "paragraph_id": "para_228" }, { "text": "the Secretary of DHS.” Id. at *4-5. DHS typically receives input from “other", "paragraph_id": "para_229" }, { "text": "agencies or other entities” and “may hold briefings or meetings on TPS reviews,", "paragraph_id": "para_230" }, { "text": "both internally and externally.” Id. at *5-6. Yet the government’s “draft of the", "paragraph_id": "para_231" }, { "text": "vacatur decision was begun before Secretary Noem was confirmed as DHS", "paragraph_id": "para_232" }, { "text": "secretary,” “[j]ust four days” into the second Trump administration. Id. at *7.", "paragraph_id": "para_233" }, { "text": "11 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_234" }, { "text": "Secretary Noem finalized the vacatur decision and began pressuring staff to", "paragraph_id": "para_235" }, { "text": "terminate Venezuela’s TPS status before receiving any input from the Department", "paragraph_id": "para_236" }, { "text": "of State, the Secretary of State, or USCIS. Id. at *7-8.", "paragraph_id": "para_237" }, { "text": "When DHS finally did “belatedly” seek input from the State Department,", "paragraph_id": "para_238" }, { "text": "Secretary Rubio sent a “one-and-a-half page letter” recommending termination of", "paragraph_id": "para_239" }, { "text": "TPS for Venezuela which “failed to include any information on country conditions", "paragraph_id": "para_240" }, { "text": "in Venezuela.” Id. at *30, 7-8. USCIS’s recommendation memo did cite country", "paragraph_id": "para_241" }, { "text": "conditions evidence, but inexplicably relied on the exact report that Secretary", "paragraph_id": "para_242" }, { "text": "Mayorkas had cited as necessitating the extension of TPS status for Venezuela just", "paragraph_id": "para_243" }, { "text": "two weeks earlier. Id. at *8. That memo “did not explain how USCIS could rely", "paragraph_id": "para_244" }, { "text": "on the Biden Administration country conditions report – which led Secretary", "paragraph_id": "para_245" }, { "text": "Mayorkas to extend TPS for Venezuela – to conclude that conditions had improved", "paragraph_id": "para_246" }, { "text": "to such an extent that TPS should be terminated.” Id. Significantly, this sudden", "paragraph_id": "para_247" }, { "text": "reversal of “DHS’s established practices for TPS decision-making” was made", "paragraph_id": "para_248" }, { "text": "“without providing any explanation for that reversal.” Id. at *31.", "paragraph_id": "para_249" }, { "text": "Indeed, the district court found that the reasons given for the Secretary’s", "paragraph_id": "para_250" }, { "text": "decision were entirely pretextual. The district court found that DHS made its", "paragraph_id": "para_251" }, { "text": "vacatur and termination decisions first and searched for a valid basis for those", "paragraph_id": "para_252" }, { "text": "decisions second. See id. at *7 (explaining that DHS attempted to create post-hoc", "paragraph_id": "para_253" }, { "text": "rationalizations for the vacatur after a decision had already been made by", "paragraph_id": "para_254" }, { "text": "12 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_255" }, { "text": "instructing staff to “‘focus on any improvements in Venezuela,’ implicitly to", "paragraph_id": "para_256" }, { "text": "advance and support termination of Venezuela’s TPS.”). In fact, before a vacatur", "paragraph_id": "para_257" }, { "text": "decision was even finalized, DHS was already “preparing to terminate Venezuela’s", "paragraph_id": "para_258" }, { "text": "TPS” even though no “country conditions analysis was conducted.” Id. The", "paragraph_id": "para_259" }, { "text": "Government ultimately failed to provide “any evidence substantiating” its position", "paragraph_id": "para_260" }, { "text": "that “there are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public", "paragraph_id": "para_261" }, { "text": "health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home", "paragraph_id": "para_262" }, { "text": "country.” Id. at *10. And the evidence it did submit undermined its argument that", "paragraph_id": "para_263" }, { "text": "the vacatur was necessary to avoid confusion caused by merging the 2021 and", "paragraph_id": "para_264" }, { "text": "2023 TPS designations. Id. at *27 (“[E]vidence that the government submitted in", "paragraph_id": "para_265" }, { "text": "conjunction with the summary judgment proceedings demonstrates that the Biden", "paragraph_id": "para_266" }, { "text": "Administration consolidated the process for the 2021 and 2023 TPS holders", "paragraph_id": "para_267" }, { "text": "precisely to avoid confusion.”).3", "paragraph_id": "para_268" }, { "text": "Nor does the Government point to any evidence that “Venezuelan TPS", "paragraph_id": "para_269" }, { "text": "holders constitute a threat to national security.” Id. at *10. And, the mere", "paragraph_id": "para_270" }, { "text": "conclusory statement that “the Secretary’s TPS terminations rested on reasoned", "paragraph_id": "para_271" }, { "text": "decision making based on her review of relevant country conditions evidence” falls", "paragraph_id": "para_272" }, { "text": "far short of the “strong showing” of a likelihood of success on the merits that we", "paragraph_id": "para_273" }, { "text": "3 The Secretary apparently failed to recognize that 2021 TPS holders were", "paragraph_id": "para_274" }, { "text": "necessarily 2023 TPS holders, such that consolidating the two designations would", "paragraph_id": "para_275" }, { "text": "avoid confusing, overlapping processes.", "paragraph_id": "para_276" }, { "text": "13 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_277" }, { "text": "require. Nken, 556 U.S. at 426. The record strongly supports the district court’s", "paragraph_id": "para_278" }, { "text": "conclusion that the Secretary’s actions were “preordained.” 2025 WL 2578045, at", "paragraph_id": "para_279" }, { "text": "*29. The Government has not made a sufficient showing to obtain a stay of the", "paragraph_id": "para_280" }, { "text": "district court’s order.", "paragraph_id": "para_281" }, { "text": "B. Second APA Claim", "paragraph_id": "para_282" }, { "text": "Plaintiffs also argue that the Secretary’s termination decision violated the", "paragraph_id": "para_283" }, { "text": "APA. The Government’s motion does not meaningfully distinguish between", "paragraph_id": "para_284" }, { "text": "Plaintiffs’ APA claims. The Government argues that “the district court…", "paragraph_id": "para_285" }, { "text": "erroneously concluded that it had jurisdiction to review and second-guess whether", "paragraph_id": "para_286" }, { "text": "a TPS termination is in the ‘national interest’ of the United States” and the district", "paragraph_id": "para_287" }, { "text": "may not “substitute its own policy judgment for that of the agency.”", "paragraph_id": "para_288" }, { "text": "The Government’s argument is contradicted by the record. The district court", "paragraph_id": "para_289" }, { "text": "found that the Secretary failed to “consult[] with appropriate agencies of the", "paragraph_id": "para_290" }, { "text": "Government” or to “review the conditions in the foreign state” as required by 8", "paragraph_id": "para_291" }, { "text": "U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3)(A). Uncontradicted evidence established that the Secretary", "paragraph_id": "para_292" }, { "text": "effectively decided to terminate Venezuela’s TPS status before consulting with any", "paragraph_id": "para_293" }, { "text": "government agency and before reviewing any country conditions evidence. 2025", "paragraph_id": "para_294" }, { "text": "WL 2578045, at *7-8.", "paragraph_id": "para_295" }, { "text": "The Government also points to no evidence that Secretary Noem’s", "paragraph_id": "para_296" }, { "text": "termination was based on any national security interest, and the Federal Register", "paragraph_id": "para_297" }, { "text": "14 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_298" }, { "text": "publication does not reflect such a rationale for the termination. Id. at *22 (finding", "paragraph_id": "para_299" }, { "text": "that “the Secretary has not asserted national interest whatsoever in justifying her", "paragraph_id": "para_300" }, { "text": "vacatur decisions”).", "paragraph_id": "para_301" }, { "text": "The Government is not likely to succeed on the merits of its second APA", "paragraph_id": "para_302" }, { "text": "claim.", "paragraph_id": "para_303" }, { "text": "IV. REMAINING NKEN FACTORS", "paragraph_id": "para_304" }, { "text": "Mere weeks ago, we found that Plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm", "paragraph_id": "para_305" }, { "text": "absent postponement of the Secretary’s actions, and that the balance of the equities", "paragraph_id": "para_306" }, { "text": "favored Plaintiffs. NTPSA I, at *16-18. With the benefit of a more developed", "paragraph_id": "para_307" }, { "text": "record, these conclusions are only strengthened.", "paragraph_id": "para_308" }, { "text": "As the district court found, the Government “provide[d] zero evidence – or", "paragraph_id": "para_309" }, { "text": "argument – [of] irreparable injury.” Dkt. 296 (Order Denying Defendants’ Mot. to", "paragraph_id": "para_310" }, { "text": "Stay) at 3, Nat. TPS Alliance v. Noem, No. 25-cv-01766 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 10, 2025).", "paragraph_id": "para_311" }, { "text": "That failure is “difficult to disregard” and “should matter.” Id. In its emergency", "paragraph_id": "para_312" }, { "text": "motion, the Government points to no evidence of irreparable harm and merely", "paragraph_id": "para_313" }, { "text": "recycles its argument that the Supreme Court’s May 19 order already resolved this", "paragraph_id": "para_314" }, { "text": "issue. The Government contends that “removal alone cannot constitute the", "paragraph_id": "para_315" }, { "text": "requisite irreparable injury to justify a stay and the possibility of family separation", "paragraph_id": "para_316" }, { "text": "is an unfortunate possible consequence of any removal proceeding.” But as we", "paragraph_id": "para_317" }, { "text": "explained, the irreparable harm in this case is not removal in a vacuum, it is", "paragraph_id": "para_318" }, { "text": "15 25-5724", "paragraph_id": "para_319" }, { "text": "“[w]rongful removal,” which brings with it “fears of family separation, detention,", "paragraph_id": "para_320" }, { "text": "and deportation” to a country that “is rated by the U.S. State Department as a", "paragraph_id": "para_321" }, { "text": "‘Level 4 Do Not Travel’ country.” NTPSA I, at *17, 20.", "paragraph_id": "para_322" }, { "text": "We similarly see no reason to disturb our holding that the balance of the", "paragraph_id": "para_323" }, { "text": "equities heavily favors Plaintiffs.", "paragraph_id": "para_324" }, { "text": "V. SCOPE OF RELIEF", "paragraph_id": "para_325" }, { "text": "Lastly, we reject the Government’s argument that the relief ordered by the", "paragraph_id": "para_326" }, { "text": "district court is overbroad. As we have already explained, it is impossible to", "paragraph_id": "para_327" }, { "text": "structure relief on an individual basis or to impose any relief short of nationwide", "paragraph_id": "para_328" }, { "text": "set asides under APA § 706 of Secretary Noem’s vacatur and termination of", "paragraph_id": "para_329" }, { "text": "Venezuela’s TPS status. Id. at *20.", "paragraph_id": "para_330" }, { "text": "VI. CONCLUSION", "paragraph_id": "para_331" }, { "text": "The Government’s Motions for a Stay Pending Appeal and an Immediate", "paragraph_id": "para_332" }, { "text": "Administrative Stay are DENIED. 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