US judge allows Trump administration to end TPS protections for Ethiopians

Boston, United States. A federal judge on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to end Temporary Protected Status legal protections for more than 5,000 Ethiopians, allowing them to live and work in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy lifted the last remaining judicial block on the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of Ethiopia’s TPS designation.

Supreme Court ruling

Murphy’s decision followed a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed the administration to end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling curtailed judges’ ability to review Department of Homeland Security efforts under Trump to end TPS designations for 13 countries providing humanitarian immigration protections to eligible migrants.

The plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Department response

James Percival, the Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel, welcomed the decision in a social media post.

“All TPS terminations are in effect!” he wrote.

Ethiopia designation

Under federal law, TPS is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events. It grants eligible migrants work authorisation and temporary protection from deportation.

The administration of former President Joe Biden first granted TPS to Ethiopians already in the United States in 2022, citing armed conflict and humanitarian suffering in Ethiopia.

The Department of Homeland Security, under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, announced in December that it would end the protections, stating that conditions no longer posed a serious threat to Ethiopians returning safely.

Earlier court action

At the request of Ethiopian nationals and African Communities Together, Murphy blocked the department’s action in April, finding that it disregarded statutory procedures and offered a “pretextual” rationale for ending the protections.

After the Supreme Court ruling, Murphy issued a new order temporarily maintaining the block while considering whether to continue halting the action on grounds not addressed by the Supreme Court.