WASHINGTON — Federal judges in Boston and Chicago have cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for migrants from South Sudan and Myanmar, leaving Ethiopia and Somalia as the only countries whose TPS terminations remain blocked by court orders, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The rulings on Friday followed a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that sharply limited lower courts' ability to review the administration's decisions to terminate TPS designations.
U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston rejected an effort to preserve TPS for South Sudanese migrants, while U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago reached a similar conclusion in the Myanmar case. The judges rejected arguments by immigrant-rights advocates that the Department of Homeland Security lacked authority to terminate the designations.
TPS allows eligible migrants from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions to remain in the United States temporarily and obtain work authorization. The administration had moved in November to terminate TPS for South Sudan, which has held the designation since 2011, and Myanmar, which has faced prolonged political instability since a military coup in 2021.
The terminations would affect about 232 South Sudanese nationals and roughly 4,000 people from Myanmar, according to court proceedings reported by Reuters. Earlier orders from Saris and Kennelly had prevented the administration from implementing the terminations.
The latest challenges were brought after the Supreme Court ruled in June that federal law bars judicial review of non-constitutional claims concerning TPS decisions. The 6-3 ruling also rejected an equal-protection challenge involving the termination of TPS for Haitian nationals, finding that the challengers were unlikely to establish that the decision was racially motivated.
The administration has moved to terminate TPS designations for numerous countries since President Donald Trump returned to office. The Justice Department's immigration court guidance lists terminations involving countries including Haiti, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela and others, while some cases remain subject to litigation.
James Percival, general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, said the rulings meant that only the administration's efforts to end TPS for Ethiopia and Somalia remained blocked by courts. He urged judges handling other TPS litigation to rule in favor of the government.
The Friday decisions leave the administration able to proceed with ending TPS for South Sudan and Myanmar, while litigation over the remaining blocked designations continues.
