BOSTON, Aug. 19 (Nationwide Times) — A federal judge in Boston has lifted the remaining court-ordered pause on the Trump administration’s plan to end Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopian nationals, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to carry out the termination.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued the ruling Aug. 18, 2026. The decision affects more than 5,000 Ethiopian nationals, according to Reuters, although the underlying court order does not identify the current number of people covered in the materials available for this report.
The case concerns immigration protections, not criminal charges. No arrests, criminal allegations or deportations connected to the ruling were identified in the available court and government accounts.
What is Temporary Protected Status?
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a federal immigration program for nationals of countries where conditions such as armed conflict or environmental disaster may make a safe return difficult. While a country is designated for TPS, eligible people from that country may live and work legally in the United States under the terms of the program.
TPS does not provide permanent immigration status or citizenship. It also applies to people who meet the program’s eligibility requirements and other conditions; the designation itself does not cover every national of a country.
What did the judge decide?
Murphy rejected challenges arguing that DHS lacked authority to end Ethiopia’s TPS designation. He also rejected the argument that individual TPS holders were entitled to separate hearings before the nationwide designation could be terminated, according to accounts of his ruling.
The judge’s Aug. 18 order dissolved the stay that had blocked the termination. The full order, including its docket number and complete reasoning, was not available in the supplied court materials.
DHS General Counsel James Percival said in a public post that Murphy had lifted the stay and that TPS terminations were in effect. DHS also said, “ALL TPS terminations are now IN EFFECT.”
How did the dispute reach this point?
Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem determined in December 2025 that conditions in Ethiopia no longer justified TPS. DHS announced that the designation would end Feb. 13, 2026, after a 60-day wind-down period.
Murphy blocked the planned termination with a temporary injunction on Jan. 30, before the announced end date. Later court orders continued to pause the termination while legal challenges proceeded.
On July 25, Murphy issued an administrative stay preserving the protections while he considered constitutional claims raised after a Supreme Court decision involving TPS for Haitian and Syrian nationals.
The Supreme Court’s June 2026 ruling, identified in the litigation as Mullin v. Doe, addressed the administration’s authority to terminate TPS protections. Accounts of the decision described it as limiting lower courts’ ability to review DHS decisions ending TPS designations. The supplied materials do not include the full Supreme Court opinion.
What happens next?
The Aug. 18 ruling removes the remaining court barrier to ending Ethiopia’s TPS designation. The termination’s practical effect for an individual will depend on that person’s immigration history, eligibility for another status and any other protections available under federal law.
African Communities Together, an organization that advocates for African immigrants and challenged the termination, had asked Murphy to postpone it. The judge rejected that request and rejected the organization’s arguments that DHS acted unlawfully, according to accounts of the ruling.
The available materials do not establish whether an appeal has been filed. They also do not provide a current count of Ethiopian TPS holders or confirm individual termination notices, removal proceedings, arrests or deportations.
