A federal judge has cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for South Sudanese nationals in the United States, putting hundreds at risk of deportation. US district judge Patti Saris of Massachusetts ruled on Friday that immigrant rights groups, including African Communities Together, failed to prove the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lacked authority to end the designation. Her 15-page decision stated that arguments against termination were self-contradictory, because if DHS could not end TPS, it also could not have legally granted it in 2011. The ruling follows a June Supreme Court decision that allowed the administration to rescind TPS for Haitians and Syrians.
Currently, more than 232 South Sudanese hold TPS in the US, with at least 73 pending applications. The DHS move to end protections cited improved conditions in South Sudan, though the country remains unstable after years of civil war that has killed over 400,000 since 2011. Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, CEO of Global Refuge, said South Sudan is on the brink of renewed civil war and that 10 million people depend on humanitarian aid. James Percival, DHS general counsel, welcomed the ruling, posting on X that other judges should follow suit to uphold what "the American people voted for." The Guardian has reached out to African Communities Together for comment.
Those affected could be removed and barred from re-entering the US for years.
The judge's logic ties the legality of TPS termination to its original grant, meaning the same authority that created the protection also has the power to remove it. This sets a precedent that could affect other TPS holders if courts accept that humanitarian conditions no longer justify their status. The administration's decision proceeds despite US travel warnings for South Sudan and evidence of ongoing violence.
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