US judge clears Trump administration to end deportation protections for more than 5,000 Ethiopians
BOSTON – More than 5,000 Ethiopians could lose the legal protection that has allowed them to live and work in the United States after a federal judge on Tuesday cleared President Donald Trump’s administration to terminate their immigration status.
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U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston lifted the last judicial barrier to the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of Ethiopia’s Temporary Protected Status designation for individual countries. The ruling followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision allowing the administration to end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.
The Supreme Court, acting with its 6-3 conservative majority, limited judges’ ability to review DHS decisions under Trump to terminate TPS designations for 13 countries. The program provides humanitarian immigration protection to eligible migrants from those nations.
James Percival, DHS’ general counsel, welcomed Murphy’s decision in a social media post. “All TPS terminations are in effect!” he wrote.
LIVES AT RISK: ADVOCACY GROUP
Several Ethiopian nationals and the advocacy group African Communities Together had challenged the decision to end Ethiopia’s TPS designation. The group said Tuesday’s ruling put thousands of people in a dangerous position.
“The crisis in Ethiopia is still ongoing, and this decision puts the lives of thousands of Ethiopians living in the U.S. at severe risk,” said Diana Konaté, the group’s deputy executive director of policy and advocacy.
Federal law makes TPS available to people from countries affected by natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary events. The designation gives eligible migrants work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.
Former Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration granted TPS to Ethiopians already living in the United States beginning in 2022, citing armed conflict and humanitarian suffering in the African nation.
In December, DHS under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the protections would end, saying conditions in Ethiopia no longer presented a serious threat that would prevent its citizens from returning safely.
