A U.S. federal judge cleared the final legal barrier Tuesday for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 5,000 Ethiopian nationals residing across the United States.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston denied a request by immigrant advocacy group African Communities Together to delay the termination, stripping beneficiaries of work authorization and protection from deportation.
The decision follows a 6–3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June, which held that federal courts generally lack statutory authority to review Department of Homeland Security decisions regarding TPS cancellations.
With Judge Murphy’s ruling, all nationwide court injunctions delaying TPS revocations are lifted, enabling the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with its targeted wind-down of protections for foreign workers.
Following the court order, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement warning affected individuals to leave the country immediately or face mandatory deportation procedures.
The policy shift forms part of a broader white-house initiative aimed at terminating TPS designations for 13 nations, affecting nearly 1.3 million immigrants nationwide.
In late 2025, the Department of Homeland Security determined that domestic conditions in Ethiopia had sufficiently stabilized to end human-rights protections originally granted in 2022 amid severe armed conflict.
The latest action directly aligns with similar recent court clearances ending protected status for roughly 1,100 Somali nationals, signaling a comprehensive structural overhaul of U.S. humanitarian immigration policy.
Impacted Ethiopian workers must now acquire alternative legal visas, voluntarily depart, or face immediate removal by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
