Judge postpones termination of temporary protected status for Ethiopians in U.S.

Washington — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Wednesday postponed the termination of temporary protected status for Ethiopians living in the U.S., finding the Trump administration unlawfully attempted to end it. 

In the order, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy said the Trump administration terminated the designation “without regard for the process delineated by Congress.” 

Under the Biden administration, thousands of Ethiopian immigrants in the country were granted the status beginning in 2022. The designation allows immigrants to temporarily live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation because of armed conflict, environmental disasters or other humanitarian emergencies in their home country. The status was extended in 2024. 

The Department of Homeland Security announced in December that Ethiopia “no longer met the conditions” for the TPS designation and the protections would terminate on Feb. 13. 

“Fundamental to this case — and indeed to our constitutional system — is the principle that the will of the President does not supersede that of Congress,” the judge wrote in Wednesday’s order. “Presidential whims do not and cannot supplant agencies’ statutory obligations.” 

“Yet, in this case, Defendants have disregarded both that foundational principle and the statutory scheme enacted by Congress,” he continued. 

“This stay by radical, Biden-appointed Judge Brian Murphy is just the latest example of judicial activists trying to prevent President Trump from restoring integrity to America’s legal immigration system,” DHS said in a statement provided to CBS News following the ruling. “Temporary means temporary. Country conditions—including armed conflicts—in Ethiopia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. The Trump administration is putting Americans first.”

It’s the latest setback on the issue for the Trump administration, which has sought to terminate the designation for 13 countries as part of the president’s crackdown on immigration. 

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in late April on the administration’s efforts to remove the status of Syrian and Haitian nationals.