US judge allows Trump to end thousands of Ethiopians' deportation protections

BOSTON - A federal judge allowed U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday to end legal ‌protections granted to over 5,000 Ethiopians that have allowed them to live and work in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston lifted, opens new tab the last judicial block on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation for individual countries after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration ​in June to end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.

The Supreme Court's ruling, backed by its 6-3 ​conservative majority, curtailed the ability of judges to review DHS efforts under Trump to end TPS designations ⁠for 13 countries that provided humanitarian immigration protection to eligible migrants from those nations.

James Percival, DHS' general counsel, hailed the decision in ​a social media post. "All TPS terminations are in effect!" he wrote.

LIVES AT RISK: ADVOCACY GROUP

The termination of Ethiopia's TPS designation had been challenged ​by several Ethiopian nationals and the advocacy group African Communities Together, which expressed disappointment in Tuesday's ruling.

"The crisis in Ethiopia is still ongoing, and this decision puts the lives of thousands of Ethiopians living in the U.S. at severe risk," said Diana Konaté, the group's deputy executive director of policy and advocacy.

TPS ​under federal law is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary events. It provides ​eligible migrants with work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.

Former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration first granted Ethiopians already in the United States that status ‌beginning ⁠in 2022, citing the need to protect the African nation's citizens from armed conflict and humanitarian suffering.

DHS under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in December that it would end those protections because conditions no longer posed a serious threat to Ethiopians returning safely.