Court Blocks Trump Administration Effort to End TPS for 13 Countries

For roughly 5,000 Ethiopians living and working legally in the United States, Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston meant one concrete thing: their employment authorization documents remain valid, their deportation protections stay intact, and the February 13 termination deadline that had been hanging over them since December is formally set aside while litigation continues.

Murphy's ruling marked the latest legal setback for the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to terminate the Temporary Protected Status designation for 13 countries as part of the administration's immigration crackdown. The judge had already issued a temporary restraining order on January 30 to prevent the February 13 expiration from taking effect; Wednesday's decision went further, blocking the termination on the merits.

The case, African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al., was brought by three Ethiopian nationals and the advocacy group African Communities Together after DHS announced in December it was terminating the TPS designation for Ethiopia, citing improved conditions in the African nation. The lawsuit argued the administration unlawfully ended the protections with just 60 days' notice despite ongoing armed conflict in the country.

The Biden administration first granted Ethiopians already in the United States TPS beginning in 2022, citing the need to protect the African nation's citizens from armed conflict and humanitarian suffering, and extended that status again in April 2024. DHS, under then-Secretary Kristi Noem, announced the termination on December 15, 2025, on the grounds that conditions no longer posed a serious threat to people returning safely. The department has consistently argued that TPS "was never meant to be a ticket to permanent residency."

The plaintiffs told a different story. They alleged the termination was based on a defective periodic review process that failed to consult appropriate agencies, ignored objective evidence of ongoing dangerous conditions, and was motivated by discriminatory animus against non-white immigrants, bringing claims under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick summarized Murphy's core finding: the judge ruled that Noem "flagrantly ignored the legal requirement to carry out a meaningful consultation with other agencies about whether conditions in a country had actually changed for the better before making her decision to terminate TPS for Ethiopia."

The USCIS confirmed that TPS Ethiopia beneficiaries will keep their status and employment authorization, with documentation remaining valid per the court order, and that Forms I-766 Employment Authorization Documents with category A12 or C19 remain valid and extended pending resolution of the litigation. In practical terms, that means Ethiopian TPS holders can continue to renew work permits and are shielded from deportation for now, but their long-term status remains contingent on how the case resolves, including any appeal the government may file.

The Ethiopia ruling is one piece of a sprawling legal battle. The Trump administration has sought to end TPS for 13 countries, including Myanmar, Nepal, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Venezuela. Courts have blocked those efforts at nearly every turn. A federal judge in Washington granted a stay maintaining the legal status of more than 350,000 Haitian nationals pending judicial review, and in her 83-page opinion, she noted that Noem "has terminated every TPS country designation to have reached her desk, twelve countries up, twelve countries down."

The Ninth Circuit found the administration had unlawfully ended protections for 600,000 Venezuelans, with a three-judge panel saying Noem's actions were based on "racist stereotyping" and left people "in a constant state of fear that they will be deported, detained, separated from their families." In Massachusetts, Judge Murphy also blocked termination of Somalia's TPS designation on March 13, 2026, while a Chicago judge paused the termination for Burma's roughly 3,670 holders in January.

The Supreme Court in March temporarily blocked the administration from deporting approximately 6,000 Syrians and 350,000 Haitians who had been granted TPS, while simultaneously expediting arguments so the cases will be heard in April, with a decision expected by the end of June. Three cases, Noem v. National TPS Alliance, Mullin v. Doe, and Trump v. Miot, now sit before the justices, and their ruling will likely determine whether any of the lower-court victories hold over the long term.

Until that decision lands, the 5,000 Ethiopians covered by Wednesday's ruling remain legally in place, their work permits valid and their deportation risk on hold. What happens after June is a question no lower court can answer for them.