Judge Allows Termination of TPS for Ethiopian Immigrants

A federal judge has, as of Tuesday, cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke deportation protections for Ethiopian immigrants. This also means the terminations of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) requested by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for other nations are now in effect.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, based in Boston, lifted a stay on the TPS program that had been in place for decades. This program previously allowed Ethiopians to live and work legally in the U.S. due to conditions in their home country being classified as unsafe. However, last year, DHS assessed that Ethiopia no longer qualified for TPS, asserting improvements in the country’s situation.

This ruling eliminates the last significant legal barrier for DHS after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that permitted the government to terminate similar protections for thousands from Haiti and Syria.

Interestingly, the decision came as part of a split ruling by Murphy, who had earlier ordered an administrative stay in the case African Communities Together v. Markwayne Mullin, where the plaintiffs argued that DHS’s actions were based on racial and national discrimination.

In this recent ruling, Murphy concluded that DHS possesses the authority to rescind the TPS designation and noted that affected individuals aren’t entitled to individual hearings prior to the nationwide termination of the program.

At the same time, Murphy allowed the plaintiffs’ main claims regarding discrimination to move forward, stating that the government had provided a plausible argument for terminating protections based on possible violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, was introduced by Congress in 1990 to offer temporary work authorization and protection from deportation to noncitizens from countries deemed unsafe due to ongoing armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other extraordinary situations. Ethiopia was first granted this status on December 12, 2022, because of armed conflicts and climate challenges.

In December of last year, the Secretary of Homeland Security officially ended Ethiopia’s TPS designation, which was scheduled to expire on February 13, 2026. This decision resulted in immediate legal challenges and a series of court-ordered suspensions—now lifted by the latest ruling.