The Queens Borough President’s Office is organizing a rally to support community members in Queens, New York, who are deeply affected by the federal government’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for several countries, including Nepal. The rally is scheduled for Monday, July 28, 2025, at 6:00 PM at Queens Borough Hall (120-55 Queens Blvd, Kew Gardens, NY 11424).
The rally comes amidst heightened concerns and ongoing legal challenges regarding the federal government’s decision to end TPS for nationals of several countries. Queens, home to approximately 56,800 TPS holders, including the largest Nepali immigrant population in the U.S., stands to face significant disruption from these terminations, which could tear families apart, harm local economies, and create humanitarian hardship.
“The decision to terminate their protections threatens to tear families apart and disrupt communities that have called Queens home. This rally is a call to action — to stand in solidarity with our neighbors and to demand permanent protections,” said the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards’ Office.
Established by Congress in 1990, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program offers temporary legal status to immigrants from nations deemed unsafe due to natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary circumstances, allowing them to legally reside and work in the U.S. As of September 30, 2024, roughly 1.1 million people held TPS nationwide.
However, the Trump administration, under former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, terminated TPS for several countries, impacting hundreds of thousands of immigrants; these terminations include Haiti (over 520,000 TPS holders, ending September 2, 2025), Venezuela (up to 350,000, ended April 7, 2025), Nepal (7,200, ending August 5, 2025), Honduras (51,000, ending September 8, 2025), Nicaragua (2,900, ending September 8, 2025), and Afghanistan and Cameroon (over 17,000 combined, ending July 14 and August 4, 2025, respectively).
Advocates argue that these terminations, which disregard ongoing crises like Haiti’s gang violence and Venezuela’s political repression, are racially motivated and fail to provide adequate transition periods. The impact on Queens is profound, as TPS holders are integral to the borough’s social and economic fabric.
Over 100,000 U.S. citizens live in mixed-status households with TPS holders from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, facing the risk of family separation if deportations proceed. TPS holders contribute significantly through employment, entrepreneurship, and taxes, often in essential industries, and their removal could lead to economic losses.
For instance, many have built businesses or raised U.S.-born children in Queens. Returning to countries with ongoing instability—such as Honduras, plagued by violence, or Nepal, still recovering from the 2015 earthquakes—poses serious safety risks.
On Friday, July 18, 2025, fifteen state Attorneys General, including New York’s Letitia James and Massachusetts’ Andrea Joy Campbell, filed an amicus brief in the case National TPS Alliance v. Noem to challenge the TPS terminations for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, affecting approximately 60,000 immigrants. The brief, supported by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, urges a federal court to halt the terminations.
“New York is proudly home to a large, vibrant immigrant community,” Attorney General James stated in a press release. “Revoking TPS for 60,000 people will do nothing except cause chaos throughout New York and other states and stoke fear in immigrant communities. By eliminating their legal status, this administration is putting thousands of New Yorkers in danger and breaking up families across the country.”
In early July 2025, the National TPS Alliance (NTPSA), alongside seven individual plaintiffs, had filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, contesting the DHS’s decision to terminate TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), constitutional breaches due to racial animus, and the lack of a standard six-month transition period for TPS holders from countries designated for three years or more.
Among the plaintiffs are Jhony Silva, a Honduran TPS holder and hospital caregiver who arrived in the U.S. at age three; S.K., a 33-year-old Nepali TPS holder in San Francisco who abandoned educational plans; and Sandhya Lama, a 43-year-old Nepali in Virginia supporting three U.S. citizen children, one needing specialized medical care.
The suit argues that the terminations reflect a political agenda to dismantle TPS, ignoring unsafe conditions in these countries and following a pattern of targeting TPS-designated populations, as seen with Venezuela, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Cameroon.
“They cannot safely go back to their country of nationality, leaving their families and communities, and yet they will be stripped of the right to live and work in the U.S.,” stated Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law & Policy, in a statement regarding the NTPSA lawsuit.
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Kishor Panthi
View More PostsKishor Panthi is the founder and editor-in-chief of Khasokhas and NepYork. He is the author of three books, “Kampan,” "UNTRANSLATABLE" and “Zero Mile.” He writes about social issues, immigration, and politics.
