US Ends Temporary Protected Status For Honduras, While US Aid Cuts Have Left Women And Girls In Honduras Exposed To Violence, Trafficking, And Trapped With Abusers

A new report by the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) has documented the impact of US policies on displaced women in Honduras. “A Cut Too Deep: US Foreign Aid Withdrawals and the Collapse of Protection for Women and Girls in Honduras” highlights how sudden cuts to foreign aid by the US administration have eliminated critical safety nets and protection programs for women and girls who have been forced to flee violence, poverty, and exploitation.

The release of the report coincides with the US administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, potentially impacting 72,000 Hondurans residing in the US. The administration’s decision is based on its assessment that, “conditions [in Honduras] have improved to the point where Hondurans can return home in safety.” Yet Honduras remains the most violent country in Central America, with its homicide rates more than four times the global average. Women and girls face heightened risks of violence, with Honduras’ femicide rates among the highest in the region.

WRC’s report is based on extensive fieldwork in Honduras, including visits to multiple locations across the country, and 25 interviews with local and national Honduran government authorities, UN officials, national and international NGOs, and grassroots women’s organizations who all work on issues of migration or gender-based violence in Honduras.

Some of the key findings of the report include:

An estimated $184 million in US funding for Honduras has been terminated in 2025 already, including $13.7 million in humanitarian assistance. More than 7 million people — or 64% of the population of Honduras — will no longer be targeted for assistance.

Gender-based violence is a critical, but severely under-reported, driver of migration for women and girls. Honduras has one of the highest femicide rates in the region – fourteen times higher than Guatemala and eight times higher than Costa Rica – and many femicides are linked to organized crime. For women and girls in Honduras, fleeing the country is a last resort for survival. The director of a national women’s organization said, “Women in Honduras aren’t just fleeing their abuser — they’re fleeing an entire criminal structure, sometimes even the police, who’ll hunt them down to the last corner to kill them.”

Gender-based violence programs in Honduras have been heavily reliant on international assistance. With US aid cuts, national and international organizations have reduced gender-based violence activities by 60-100%. Staff numbers have been drastically reduced, shelters have been forced to close, essential supplies have run out, healthcare services have become limited, and economic empowerment programs have been terminated. One women’s organization said, “Our overall funding came from the US, and it has all been withdrawn. If a woman in life-threatening danger comes to us today, we have no way to help her move to another city. We are on our own.”

Organized criminal groups are stepping into the void left by humanitarian programs that were forced to shut down. One research participant said, “Before, criminal groups held back because we were there — now, no one’s watching. They take women as soon as they cross, force them into prostitution in the capital for a week, and once they meet their quota, the next group arrives — mostly Venezuelan women.”

Women deported from the US faced degrading treatment during deportation, including being stripped of their underwear, denied access to sanitary products, and cases of sexual abuse and harassment. One psychologist shared, “A very young deportee was raped by another woman while in a US detention center. She was assaulted with a bottle and had no one to report the attack to. She arrived here completely shattered — her body and her spirit broken.”

Migration trends in Central America are changing. Between January and February 2025, the number of people migrating from north to south increased by 2,354%. Women and girls accounted for 41% of those traveling south. Many women face increased risks of violence, harassment, and trafficking as they navigate the journey southwards, as return routes are informal, unregulated, and lack basic services.

“US policies are directly endangering the lives of women and girls in Honduras. Foreign aid cuts, deportations, and now the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Honduras have all cut off critical lifelines for women escaping gender-based violence. Women in Central America are being forced into an impossible choice: to stay where they are, and risk being killed by their partners, organized criminal gangs, or the state; or migrate elsewhere, and risk being trafficked, deported, and abused in their search for safety. The US government must take action to address the harms its policies have caused.”
— Melanie Nezer, Vice President, Advocacy and External Affairs, Women’s Refugee Commission.

The report calls on the government of Honduras to urgently address gaps in protection for people at risk of gender-based violence. It calls on the US government to restore foreign aid to gender-based violence programs, redesignate TPS for Honduras, restore asylum processes, including for those fleeing gender-based violence, and uphold minimum care and safety standards in immigration enforcement and detention — particularly for women and girls at risk.

###