A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from stripping South Sudanese nationals in the US of temporary protection from deportation, dealing a setback to the president’s efforts to scale back immigration safeguards, according to media.
US District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston granted an emergency request on Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by several South Sudanese citizens and an immigrant rights organisation. The ruling prevents temporary protected status, or TPS, for South Sudan from expiring on January 5, as sought by the administration.
The case accuses the Department of Homeland Security of acting unlawfully by attempting to end TPS for South Sudanese nationals, a status granted to citizens of countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions that make return unsafe.
TPS was first designated for South Sudan in 2011, when the country gained independence from Sudan, and has been repeatedly renewed amid ongoing conflict, mass displacement, and regional instability. The status allows eligible individuals to live and work legally in the US while shielding them from deportation.
The lawsuit argues that ending TPS would expose South Sudanese nationals to removal to a country facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
In a notice published in early November, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said South Sudan no longer met the criteria for TPS, citing what she described as renewed peace, commitments to reintegrating returnees, and improved diplomatic relations. Her comments appeared to refer to a fragile 2018 peace agreement.
Those claims were disputed by a panel of UN experts, who told the UN Security Council in November that while the dynamics of the conflict may have shifted, the scale of human suffering remained unchanged. The panel warned that continued fighting, aerial bombardments, flooding, and the arrival of returnees and refugees from Sudan have driven food insecurity to near record levels, with pockets of famine reported in some communities.
The ruling comes as the Trump administration intensifies its broader crackdown on immigration, with TPS increasingly targeted as part of a push for mass deportations.
The administration has also moved to end TPS for nationals from countries including Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua, prompting multiple legal challenges. In parallel, it has sought to deport individuals to African countries even when they have no direct ties there, according to media.