Hundreds of people from South Sudan may be able to live and work legally in the United States while a federal judge considered Tuesday whether President Donald Trump’s move to revoke Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from the East African country was illegal.
The expiration was set to take effect on January 6, 2026, at which point approximately 300 South Sudanese citizens living and working in the US under the program – or who otherwise have pending applications – would be eligible for deportation.
Civil rights groups sued the Department of Homeland Security in late December, writing in a complaint that the change violates administrative process and is unconstitutional because it is intended to “significantly reduce the number of non-white and non-European immigrants to the United States” based on race.
The court order, written by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelly in Massachusetts, temporarily blocks the federal government from beginning deportations pending a final decision.
“These significant and far-reaching consequences not only deserve, but require, full and careful consideration on the merits by the Court,” Kelly wrote, adding that the changes could potentially cause irreversible harm to East African immigrants.
DHS criticized the decision in a statement Tuesday.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote, “Another lawless and activist order of the federal judiciary that continues to usurp the President’s constitutional authority. Temporary protected status was abused under the previous administration to allow violent terrorists, criminals, and national security threats in.”
Temporary protected status is granted to foreign nationals from countries devastated by war or natural disaster. Successful applicants must already reside in the US and pass an extensive background check and vetting through DHS.
Without providing evidence, McLaughlin claimed “there is renewed peace in South Sudan” and pointed to “their demonstrated commitment to ensuring the safe reintegration of returning citizens and improving diplomatic relations”.
McLaughlin wrote, “Now is the right time to conclude what was always a temporary designation.”
According to UN experts, “years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the panel said, “resulting in the disintegration of uniformed troops, defectors and armed community defense groups.”
South Sudanese people were made eligible for Temporary Protected Status in 2011. East Africa’s troubled government still struggles to provide many of the basic services of a state. Years of conflict have left the country heavily dependent on aid, which has been hit hard by deep cuts to foreign aid by the Trump administration. Many South Sudanese face hunger, and this year a hunger monitor said that parts of conflict-hit South Sudan were heading towards famine conditions.
Dorian Spence, litigation coordinator for Communities United for Status and Protection, one of the groups that filed the December 22 lawsuit, said, “I don’t know how DHS can say with a straight face that it is safe for South Sudanese TPS holders to return to South Sudan when their own State Department, even though another government agency, says it is not safe to travel there.”
Spence referred to Trump’s willingness to accept white South Africans as refugees, saying, “This is just one aspect of his multi-pronged attack to whiten America.”
Critics of the Trump administration in South Sudan said the move was political retaliation for South Sudan’s decision to stop accepting people deported from the US as part of a program to deport migrants to third countries. At least eight people were deported from the US to South Sudan earlier in the year.
“This has angered the Trump administration (and) the Trump administration has now come to this decision where it is ending the protections available to South Sudanese people fleeing the war,” he said.
The Trump administration has attempted to roll back various protections that have allowed immigrants to live and work legally in the US, including ending temporary status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians who were granted protection under President Joe Biden.
The protected status of immigrants from Ethiopia, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Nepal, Burma, Syria, Nicaragua and Honduras is also at risk.
