Judge Nathaniel Gorton on Tuesday blocked Trump administration rules that would have added new barriers to asylum applications and ended work permits for some people with Temporary Protected Status. The emergency order keeps those changes on hold until August 5, 2025.
The ruling matters now because it stops the new immigration measures from taking effect while the court weighs whether they can survive at all. It came in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of immigrant-rights organizations challenging provisions folded into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress approved and Donald Trump signed in July 2025.
For asylum applicants, the stakes were immediate. Adelys Ferro said people with pending cases were facing a new annual fee of 100 dollars and the threat of expedited deportation if they did not pay. Democracy Forward said many TPS beneficiaries would have been unable to work starting on July 22 without the court intervention, and that asylum seekers were facing rejection of their applications and instant loss of employment authorization.
The order reaches asylum applicants from all countries and gives especially important relief to TPS beneficiaries from Haiti and Venezuela. The Venezuelan American Caucus said people affected by the asylum fee can now pay it and keep pursuing their cases while holding onto work authorization. It also said the relief helps a narrower group of Venezuelan TPS holders who filed for renewal before February 5, 2025 and had permits valid through October 2026.
Haitian TPS holders were facing a separate deadline on July 24, but under the order they can keep working for now, with protection extending until November 2026 for the last renewal approved under Joe Biden. The Venezuelan American Caucus estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 Venezuelans could benefit from the ruling, a reminder that the judge’s order reaches far beyond the courtroom language that produced it.
Still, the decision is only temporary. Gorton has not yet said whether he will keep the suspension in place after August 5, and that next ruling will decide whether this relief becomes a short pause or the start of a longer fight over the rules themselves.
