Federal judge allows termination of TPS for 5,000 Ethiopians

Ethiopia becomes final country in administration’s TPS terminations

A federal judge has cleared the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for roughly 5,000 Ethiopians living in the United States. US District Judge Brian Murphy’s ruling lifted a temporary stay that had blocked the cancellation, making Ethiopia the final country where the administration has ended the humanitarian designation.

TPS is granted to nationals of countries experiencing extraordinary conditions, including armed conflict and natural disasters. Recipients are protected from deportation and granted temporary work authorization. Ethiopia was first designated for the status at the end of 2022 under President Joe Biden, following the Tigray war. The government estimated at the time that more than 20,000 people who had been displaced and lived continuously in the United States since October 2022 would qualify for the designation.

The Department of Homeland Security posted on X after the ruling: “Those with terminated TPS are in our nation ILLEGALLY. They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED.” DHS General Counsel James Percival celebrated the decision on the platform, writing: “All TPS terminations are in effect!”

Murphy dismissed some claims in a lawsuit brought by Ethiopian nationals and the advocacy group African Communities Together. According to Reuters, the judge is allowing the plaintiffs to continue litigating whether the cancellation was motivated by racial or national-origin animus, which would violate the US Constitution. Konaté, the advocacy group’s deputy executive director of policy and advocacy, told Reuters the ruling “puts the lives of thousands of Ethiopians living in the US at severe risk,” adding that “the crisis in Ethiopia is still ongoing.”

The Department of Homeland Security first announced it was ending TPS for Ethiopians in December, under then-Secretary Kristi Noem, saying conditions in Ethiopia were safe. The administration had already ended TPS for several South and Central American countries, including Venezuela and Honduras. Murphy’s ruling followed a June Supreme Court decision that ended similar protections for thousands from Haiti and Syria. President Donald Trump has sought to cancel the protections for people from more than a dozen countries as part of a broader immigration agenda.

Nearly four years after the Pretoria Agreement ended the two-year civil war in Tigray, the region faces renewed tensions. Millions in northern Ethiopia live with fears of a wider conflict, and fighting and drone strikes have been reported in parts of Tigray in recent weeks.

Both the federal government and Tigrayan leaders have accused each other of violating the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which ended a war that killed hundreds of thousands. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front has moved to restore the prewar regional government and dismantle the interim administration appointed by Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy’s government. The federal government has repeatedly accused Tigrayan leaders of cooperating with neighboring Eritrea and the Sudanese military.

The renewed confrontation has raised concerns that Eritrea could become involved, potentially leading to wider regional unrest. Ethiopia also continues to grapple with armed insurgencies in Oromia and Amhara, the country’s two most-populous regional states.