Overview
A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction preventing the Trump administration from carrying out policies that would strip work authorization from many asylum applicants and individuals with Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton granted the short-term order in response to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of immigrant rights organizations and labor unions challenging new implementation steps by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS.
Court order and timeline
Judge Gorton said the temporary block will remain effective while he considers whether to convert it into a longer-term pause on the administration's actions. He set a deadline of August 5 to rule on whether to extend the injunction beyond the temporary measure issued on Tuesday. The court's order prohibits USCIS from taking steps that would strip work permits or impose other penalties on people who fail to pay a newly imposed fee, although Gorton did not prohibit the agency from collecting the fee itself at this time.
Legal challenge and plaintiffs' claims
The litigation was filed by a group led by the liberal legal organization Democracy Forward, alongside labor unions and other immigrant advocates. The plaintiffs contend that USCIS improperly implemented provisions of a law enacted in July 2025 by the Republican-led Congress. That law for the first time attached fees to asylum applications and changed rules governing work authorization for individuals holding TPS.
Central to the plaintiffs' challenge is the claim that USCIS adopted new policies without providing the public notice and opportunity to comment required by the Administrative Procedure Act. The complaint also argues that the agency effectively applied the 2025 law's limits on TPS work authorization retroactively, shortening the timeframe some TPS holders would remain authorized to work by imposing the new restrictions on people from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine.
TPS context provided in the lawsuit
The article of the complaint cited in court explains the role of Temporary Protected Status: it is a designation that allows individuals from countries afflicted by war, natural disasters or other severe catastrophes to live and work in the United States while it remains unsafe for them to return to their home countries. The plaintiffs highlighted policies that, if allowed to take effect as written by the agency, would result in thousands of TPS holders from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine losing their work authorization beginning on Wednesday.
The administration has been seeking to end TPS for people from more than a dozen countries as part of its broader immigration agenda. The U.S. Supreme Court last month permitted the administration to terminate TPS for thousands of Haitian and Syrian nationals in a separate matter, the article notes. Despite moves to end TPS for some countries, the administration extended TPS for people from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine earlier in the year; TPS authorization in those instances remains valid through specific dates: El Salvador through September 9, and Sudan and Ukraine through October 19.
Statements and reactions
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement that Judge Gorton’s ruling prevents thousands of families from losing their livelihoods while the courts deliberate on the legality of the administration’s policies.
Venue and judge
The case was filed in Boston, a jurisdiction frequently used by plaintiffs challenging aspects of the current administration's agenda. The matter was assigned to Judge Gorton, who is one of the relatively few judges on the court who was not appointed by a Democratic president; Gorton was appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush.
Current status and next steps
At present, USCIS may continue to collect the new asylum application fee established by the 2025 law, but the agency is barred from revoking work authorizations or imposing other penalties on those who fail to pay. Judge Gorton will decide whether to make the injunction longer-lasting by August 5, at which point the legal posture could change depending on the court’s determination.
The litigation and the court’s interim ruling leave in place several open questions that will be resolved through further court proceedings, including whether USCIS properly followed formal rulemaking processes and whether the agency may lawfully apply the 2025 law’s changes to TPS work authorization retroactively.