By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from terminating temporary deportation protections and work permits for more than 6,100 Syrians
while a legal challenge proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan said the abrupt elimination of temporary protected status for Syrians was likely illegal, agreeing with seven Syrian migrants who had sought to block the policy from taking effect on Friday. They claim the change was arbitrary and motivated by racial animus.
The Trump administration can immediately appeal. Failla, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, issued the ruling during a virtual court appearance.
Temporary protected status, or TPS, is a humanitarian designation under U.S. law for migrants from countries stricken by war, natural disaster or other catastrophes, shielding recipients from deportation and allowing them to work in the United States.
TPS was first extended to Syrian citizens in 2012 during Obama's administration, after the country plunged into a civil war that culminated last year with the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad.
Trump, a Republican, has sought to end TPS for hundreds of thousands of migrants from several countries, including some who have lived and worked in the country legally for decades.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke temporary status for 600,000 Venezuelan migrants. Other judges are considering challenges to the termination of TPS for people from Haiti, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua.
The administration has said the program has been overused and that many migrants no longer merit protections. Democrats and advocates for the migrants have said that TPS enrollees could be forced to return to dangerous conditions and that U.S. employers depend on their labor.
In announcing the elimination of TPS for Syrians, the Department of Homeland Security said Syria was a hotbed of terrorism and extremism and that it was contrary to U.S. interests to continue the program.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Nia Williams)
