Federal judge says substantial evidence Kristi Noem promoted racist theory to strip immigrants of protected status [View all]
Source: Law & Crime
Jan 2nd, 2026, 11:05 am
A California federal judge on New Year's Eve bashed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for deciding in a "pretextual" way that some 60,000 Honduran, Nepali, and Nicaraguan immigrants should be stripped of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), finding it "plausible" that "racial animus" explains the "arbitrary and capricious" behavior.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, a 2022 appointee of then-President Joe Biden, began her Wednesday partial summary judgment ruling against the Trump administration by noting, "Unilateral power has never been American." At the end of the ruling, the judge likewise emphasized that President Donald Trump "is not above the law" — quoting the Supreme Court's 2024 immunity decision in Trump v. United States — and "Neither are his cabinet officials," such as Noem.
"The rule of law demands that when executive officials exceed their authority, they must be held to account. The Administrative Procedures Act [APA] ensures government accountability by making agencies transparent, require public participation, setting fair rulemaking standards, and allowing courts to review actions for legality and rationality," Thompson said. "Our laws should not favor the loud and powerful simply because of their positions. Yet, for too long, our laws have overlooked the quiet truths—truths carried in the margins, truths lived but never spoken aloud."
The judge said Noem's move to terminate TPS for Honduran, Nepali, and Nicaraguan immigrants was "arbitrary and capricious" under the APA because the DHS secretary was more concerned with outcomes than complying with the law.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/they-must-be-held-to-account-federal-judge-says-theres-substantial-evidence-kristi-noem-promoted-racist-theory-to-strip-immigrants-of-protected-status/
Full headline: 'They must be held to account': Federal judge says there's 'substantial evidence' Kristi Noem promoted 'racist' theory to strip immigrants of protected status
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.452397/gov.uscourts.cand.452397.197.0.pdf
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