US judges clear way to end temporary protected status for South Sudan, Myanmar nationals

Two federal judges have cleared the way for the Donald Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from South Sudan and Myanmar, rejecting legal attempts to keep deportation protections in place. The rulings follow a US Supreme Court decision that limited lower courts’ ability to block the administration’s efforts to end the programme.

Judges in Boston, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois, on Friday, dismissed last-ditch efforts by immigrant rights advocates to preserve TPS designations for South Sudan and Myanmar.

The legal challenge came after the US Supreme Court ruled in June that the administration could end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.

TPS protects foreign nationals from deportation and allows them to work in the US when their home countries are affected by armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions.

According to Reuters, ending the programme would affect about 232 South Sudanese nationals and roughly 4,000 people from Myanmar.

Supreme Court ruling shapes legal battle

The Supreme Court held that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has broad executive authority to make decisions on the TPS programme, limiting the ability of lower courts to block those actions.

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Following that ruling, immigrant rights lawyers argued that DHS did not have the authority to terminate TPS.

US District Judge Patti Saris in Boston rejected that argument, saying such an interpretation would not only undermine DHS’s authority to end TPS but also its longstanding authority to extend the protections.

Hours later, US District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago reached the same conclusion in the Myanmar case.

Advocates warn of deportation risk

Immigrant rights advocates said the rulings leave TPS recipients vulnerable to deportation after they had been protected by an “administrative stay” during the legal proceedings, allowing them to continue living and working in the US.

The Department of Homeland Security moved in November 2025 to end TPS for South Sudan, which has held the designation since 2011 because of ongoing conflict, and for Myanmar, which has remained in political turmoil since the 2021 military coup.

James Percival, General Counsel of DHS, said the latest rulings mean only the planned TPS terminations for Ethiopian and Somalian nationals remain blocked by the courts.

“Every day these ‘administrative stays’ are in effect is a day the American people are denied what they voted for,” he wrote on X.