Overview
- A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday blocked the move to end Ethiopia’s Temporary Protected Status, preserving protections for about 5,000 people.
- Judge Brian Murphy said DHS terminated the designation without following the TPS statute, called the rationale pretextual, and wrote that the president’s will does not override Congress.
- DHS under then‑Secretary Kristi Noem had announced in December 2025 that Ethiopia no longer met TPS conditions and set February 13 as the end date with a 60‑day departure notice.
- The court pointed to DHS’s own 2025 reports describing ongoing armed conflict and natural disasters in Ethiopia and noted Noem sought to terminate nearly every TPS she reviewed.
- The decision becomes another hurdle for the administration’s rollback as the Supreme Court readies late‑April arguments on whether it can end TPS for Haitians and Syrians.