Judge Allows Trump to End Ethiopian Deportation Protections

A US federal judge has cleared the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for more than 5,000 Ethiopians living and working in the United States. The decision removes the last remaining judicial barrier to ending the protections after the Supreme Court ruled in June that the administration could terminate similar TPS designations for citizens of Haiti and Syria. TPS provides eligible migrants from countries experiencing conflict, disasters, or other extraordinary conditions with temporary protection from deportation and authorization to work. The Biden administration granted TPS to Ethiopians in 2022 because of armed conflict and humanitarian conditions in Ethiopia. The judge had previously blocked the termination, but he rejected the plaintiffs’ latest legal arguments after the Supreme Court ruling. He nevertheless allowed them to continue challenging the decision on grounds that it may have violated constitutional protections against racial or national-origin discrimination.