US judge halts ending of temporary protected status for South Sudanese migrants | Trump administration
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end temporary protections from deportation granted to hundreds of South Sudanese citizens living in the United States.
U.S. district judge Angel Kelley in Boston granted an emergency request from several South Sudanese citizens and an immigrant rights group to prevent their temporary protected status from expiring after Jan. 5 as planned.
The decision represents a temporary victory for immigrant advocates and a setback for the Trump administration’s broader efforts to restrict humanitarian aid programming. This is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the administration’s moves to end similar protections for citizens of several other countries, including Syria, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua.
Kelley, who was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden, issued the order after four immigrants from South Sudan filed a lawsuit along with African Communities Together, a nonprofit group. The lawsuit alleged that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) action was unlawful and subjected them to deportation to a country facing a number of humanitarian crises.
Kelley issued an administrative stay temporarily blocking the policy until further litigation is filed.
Allowing it to go into effect before the courts have had time to consider the merits of the case, he wrote, “would have an immediate impact on South Sudanese citizens, depriving current beneficiaries of legal status, which could result in their imminent deportation.”
Homeland security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the judge’s decision ignored Trump’s constitutional and legal authority and that the temporary protected status granted to South Sudanese citizens “was never intended to be a de facto asylum program.”
South Sudan has been wracked by conflict since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. Fighting has continued in much of the country since the five-year civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people ended in 2018, and the U.S. State Department advises citizens not to travel there.
The United States began designating South Sudan as temporary protected status (TPS) in 2011.
This status is open to individuals whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events. Provides eligible immigrants with work permits and temporary protection from deportation.
According to the lawsuit, approximately 232 South Sudanese citizens took advantage of TPS and sought refuge in the United States; Another 73 people have pending applications for the same protection.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a statement ending TPS for South Sudan on November 5, saying the country no longer met the designation requirements. His department has similarly moved to end temporary protections for foreign nationals from countries such as Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua, prompting several court challenges.
“Given the renewed peace in South Sudan, their demonstrated commitment to ensuring the safe reintegration of returning citizens, and the improvement of diplomatic relations, now is the right time to finalize the appointment, which was always tentatively planned,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement before the court decision.
The lawsuit argues that the agency’s action violated the law governing the TPS program, ignored the dire humanitarian conditions that persist in South Sudan, and was motivated by discrimination against immigrants of color in violation of the fifth amendment of the U.S. constitution.
“The sole purpose of this mass deportation agenda is to remove as many Black and brown immigrants from this country as quickly and brutally as possible,” Diana Konate, deputy executive director of policy and advocacy at African Communities Together, said in a statement.
