By Purushottam Dhakal, LOS ANGELES:- A federal appeals court in California has ruled in favor of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem, allowing the US government to end temporary protected status for immigrants from Nicaragua, Honduras and Nepal.

The Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco has issued an order freezing a lower court ruling that would not allow the Trump administration to end TPS protection, as it seeks.

Earlier, a federal judge had ordered the administration not to implement the decision.  But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday allowed the government to proceed with the deportation process while an appeal against the order is pending.

The court order states, “The previous order halting the termination of TPS for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua is stayed pending the completion of the appeal process.”

The TPS program allows people from certain countries who are considered at risk of returning to their home country due to war, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances to temporarily live and work in the United States.

More than 51,000 Hondurans and nearly 3,000 Nicaraguans who arrived in the United States after Hurricane Mitch devastated the Central American region in 1998 received protection under TPS.

Similarly, after the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015, approximately seven thousand Nepali citizens were also provided temporary protection under this program.

Previously, former US presidents had repeatedly renewed the TPS status of such immigrants, which allowed them to work in the US and avoid deportation.

But President Trump has vowed to launch a mass deportation campaign. DHS Secretary  Christie Noam signaled on Monday that the deportation process would begin soon, saying that “TPS was never designed to be a permanent program.”

U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated that the decision to remove TPS was based on the conclusion that the situation in those countries had improved and that their citizens were now in a position to safely return home.