Judge halts Trump move to end TPS for Somalis days before deadline
BOSTON — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants just days before the program was set to lapse, preserving work authorization and deportation protections for nearly 1,100 people while a lawsuit proceeds.
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U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs issued an administrative stay of the Department of Homeland Security’s March 17 termination date for Somalia’s TPS designation, citing the “weighty” consequences of allowing protections to expire before the court could fully assess the challengers’ claims.
- What the ruling does: Pauses the March 17 end of TPS for Somalis while the court considers a longer-term injunction.
- Who is affected: Nearly 1,100 Somali TPS holders currently living and working in the United States.
- What’s next: An expedited schedule to resolve the request for a preliminary injunction “as quickly as possible.”
“Plaintiffs aver that if Somalia’s TPS designation is allowed to terminate, over one thousand people will face ‘a myriad of grave risks,’ including detention and deportation, physical violence if removed to Somalia, and forced separation from family members,” Burroughs wrote in her order. Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said maintaining the status quo was necessary while she weighs the merits of the case.
DHS criticized the ruling, calling it “just the latest example of judicial activists trying to prevent President Trump from restoring integrity to America’s legal immigration system,” according to a department spokesperson.
TPS is a humanitarian program that shields eligible migrants from deportation and grants them the right to work in the United States when their home countries face extraordinary conditions such as armed conflict or natural disasters. Under President Donald Trump, DHS has moved to end TPS for a dozen countries, triggering a wave of legal challenges across the country.
The lawsuit in Boston was filed by four Somali TPS holders along with two advocacy organizations, African Communities Together and the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans. They argue the termination was procedurally flawed and motivated by unconstitutional discrimination against non-white immigrants rather than a neutral assessment of country conditions. The plaintiffs cite a series of statements by Trump, including references to Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people,” as evidence of bias.
Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in January that TPS for Somalia would end on March 17, asserting that conditions in the country had sufficiently improved. That assessment came despite continued fighting between Somali government forces and al-Shabaab militants.
The Boston case unfolds as the administration awaits word from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether it will lift lower-court orders in two other disputes that have barred DHS from ending TPS protections for over 350,000 Haitians and about 6,000 Syrians.
In her order, Burroughs emphasized the real-world consequences at stake for families who have lived legally in the United States for years under TPS. She administratively stayed DHS’s termination date and set an expedited briefing schedule to consider the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction that would extend the block while the case is litigated.
Advocates welcomed the reprieve. “As the legal fight continues, a community whose dignity and belonging have faced racist and wrongful attacks can rest a little easier for now,” said Ramla Sahid, executive director of the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans.
The temporary pause means Somali TPS holders retain their protections and work authorization for the time being. The court is expected to move quickly as it weighs whether DHS acted lawfully and whether the challengers have shown that ending the program would cause irreparable harm.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
