Addis Abeba — A US federal judge has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump can terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 5,000 Ethiopians, clearing the way for their potential deportation despite concerns over security and humanitarian conditions in Ethiopia.
Breaking news alerts According to Al Jazeera, US District Judge Brian Murphy on Tuesday lifted a judicial block that had prevented the Trump administration from ending TPS protections for Ethiopians. The decision removes the final court-ordered obstacle to terminating the protections.
TPS allows nationals of countries designated by the US government to remain legally in the country and obtain work authorization when conditions in their home countries are considered unsafe for return.
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The ruling follows a 6-3 decision by the US Supreme Court in June that limited the ability of federal courts to review the Department of Homeland Security's decisions to terminate TPS protections. Although the Supreme Court case involved TPS recipients from Syria and Haiti, the ruling had wider implications for other nationalities challenging the termination of their protected status.
The Trump administration has moved to end TPS protections for nationals of at least 13 countries, including Ethiopia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, South Sudan and Somalia. The Pew Research Center estimates that the broader revocations could affect at least one million people who were covered by the programme this year.
Ethiopians were first granted TPS in 2022 under former President Joe Biden amid concerns over armed conflict and humanitarian conditions in the country.
Addis Ababa city guide The Department of Homeland Security announced in December that it would terminate TPS for Ethiopians, arguing that conditions in Ethiopia "no longer pose a serious threat" to the safety of returning nationals.
Discover moreAddis Ababa tourismNewspaper subscriptionAdvertising spaceNews analysisHistoryLocal NewsTigray travel advisoryPoliticsAfricans & DiasporaExecutive Branch Rights groups have challenged that assessment. Diana Konate, deputy executive director for policy and advocacy at African Communities Together, told Reuters that the crisis in Ethiopia remains ongoing and warned that ending TPS could put thousands of Ethiopians in the US at risk.
The US State Department currently maintains a Level 3 travel advisory for Ethiopia, citing unrest, crime, kidnapping, terrorism and landmines among the risks.
Murphy had previously paused the administration's attempt to terminate TPS for Ethiopians while considering legal arguments not addressed by the Supreme Court. One argument challenged whether the Department of Homeland Security, rather than the attorney general, had the authority to terminate TPS before its scheduled expiry.
Ethiopian election analysis The judge ultimately rejected that argument. However, his latest ruling leaves open the possibility of an appeal on grounds that the administration's decision may have been motivated by discrimination against particular races or nationalities.
The Trump administration has defended its broader effort to terminate TPS, arguing that repeated extensions have transformed what was intended as a temporary programme into a long-term immigration status.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin welcomed the ruling, saying TPS is "temporary" and warning individuals whose status has been terminated to leave the US or face deportation.
In April, US District Judge Brian Murphy had blocked the Trump administration's effort to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 5,000 Ethiopians living in the United States, according to Reuters.
In an 8 April ruling in Boston, Murphy barred the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending the protections, which allow eligible nationals of countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions to remain and work legally in the US without facing deportation.
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Reuters reported that Murphy found the decision to terminate TPS for Ethiopia appeared to be linked to a directive issued after President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, calling on DHS to ensure TPS designations were "appropriately limited in scope."
The judge warned that the directive could result in TPS decisions being predetermined rather than based on meaningful assessments of conditions in affected countries.
Murphy also concluded that DHS had failed to follow procedures established by Congress and had provided a "pretextual" justification for ending the protections, despite what he described as continuing challenges in Ethiopia, including armed conflict and natural disasters.
