A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Friday that the Department of Homeland Security may terminate Temporary Protected Status for South Sudanese nationals, citing a June Supreme Court decision that limited judicial review of DHS decisions ending TPS designations.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Friday that the Department of Homeland Security can proceed with ending Temporary Protected Status for South Sudanese nationals, clearing another legal obstacle for the Trump administration as it continues rolling back humanitarian immigration protections granted to people from several countries.
U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris concluded that challenges to the termination could not move forward in light of a June Supreme Court decision addressing similar efforts to end TPS for other nationalities. “The Supreme Court rejected materially identical challenges … and Plaintiffs have no liberty or property interests left other than those provided by statute or regulation based on their individual circumstances through other statutory provisions,” Saris wrote. She added that the plaintiffs’ “newly proposed claims would be futile.”
Saris pointed to the Supreme Court’s June ruling in Mullin v. Doe, which allowed the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haiti and Syria. In that case, the Supreme Court determined that federal immigration law prevents courts from reviewing DHS decisions to end TPS protections for foreign nationals, significantly narrowing the avenues available to challenge such terminations.
The ruling comes days before temporary employment authorization for South Sudanese TPS recipients is set to expire. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said earlier this week that, absent another court order, temporary work permits issued to South Sudanese nationals under the program will expire Aug. 10.
DHS announced last year that South Sudan no longer satisfied the conditions required for continued TPS designation. The department said there “is no longer an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning South Sudanese nationals” following years of civil war and instability in the country. South Sudan has experienced repeated bouts of violent conflict since gaining independence in 2011, including a civil war that lasted from 2013 until 2018.
The department also framed the decision as one involving U.S. national interests. “The termination of the South Sudan designation is required because it is contrary to the national interest to permit South Sudanese nationals (or nationals having no nationality who last habitually resided in South Sudan) to remain temporarily in the United States,” DHS said in its notice.
Temporary Protected Status was established under the Immigration Act of 1990 as a humanitarian program for foreign nationals already in the United States whose home countries are experiencing conditions such as armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary catastrophes. Recipients are generally protected from deportation for the duration of the designation and are permitted to obtain work authorization.
President Donald Trump has moved since returning to office in January 2025 to terminate legal protections for hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals as part of a broader immigration enforcement agenda. His administration has argued that TPS has been extended far beyond its intended temporary purpose and has sought to end designations for nationals from several countries, including Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua.
The administration has also imposed a separate limit on refugee admissions, setting the annual ceiling at the lowest level on record. The broader policy shift reflects the administration’s effort to reduce both temporary humanitarian protections and other pathways allowing foreign nationals to remain legally in the United States.
Friday’s South Sudan decision follows another court ruling earlier this week permitting DHS to move ahead with terminating TPS for Haiti, a change affecting roughly 350,000 people in the United States. That ruling also followed the Supreme Court’s June order and allowed the administration to proceed with ending the Haitian designation.
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