Judge Clears Path for Trump Administration to End Temporary Protected Status for Somalis
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The Department of Homeland Security flag flies outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington on July 17, 2020. |
A federal judge in Massachusetts has ruled that the Trump administration can move forward with its plan to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 1,100 Somali nationals currently living in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs issued the ruling in Boston on Aug. 14, several months after four Somali TPS recipients and two advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation.
The groups African Communities Together and Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans joined the four individuals in filing the case on March 9. They sought to prevent DHS from ending the protections while the legal challenge was being considered.
The lawsuit had previously resulted in a temporary pause on the government’s effort to terminate TPS for Somali nationals.
In her latest order, Burroughs recognized that ending the protection could have significant consequences for people currently covered by TPS. However, she concluded that the administration could proceed with the termination.
The judge also emphasized that any future immigration enforcement involving former TPS recipients would still have to comply with constitutional due-process requirements.
“If the government wishes to remove or detain Somali people who previously held TPS, those enforcement actions will be subject to the protections of the Due Process Clause,” Burroughs wrote.
The court also rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that statements made by President Donald Trump and members of his administration were sufficiently discriminatory to establish their legal claim.
Although the judge acknowledged the plaintiffs had presented arguments concerning alleged racial bias, she said the court could not determine that they were likely to prevail on that constitutional claim under the applicable legal precedent.
Temporary Protected Status allows eligible nationals of certain countries to remain legally in the United States and obtain employment authorization when returning to their home country would pose serious risks because of conditions such as armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances.
Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991, and the protection was repeatedly extended over the following decades.
The designation remained in place until Jan. 14, 2026, when then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the administration intended to end Somalia’s TPS designation in March.
Noem argued that conditions in Somalia had improved sufficiently for the country to no longer meet the legal requirements for TPS.
“Temporary means temporary,” Noem said in a Jan. 13 statement.
She also maintained that allowing Somali nationals to continue receiving temporary protection was no longer consistent with U.S. national interests, emphasizing the administration’s “Americans first” approach to immigration policy.