The Trump administration has secured a legal victory that clears the way for it to terminate (TPS) for thousands of living in the United States, according to Fox News.
US District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston on Friday lifted a stay that had prevented the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending Somalia’s TPS designation. The judge cited a June Supreme Court ruling that limited judicial review of certain decisions to terminate TPS protections.
The decision allows the administration to proceed with ending TPS for Somalia, potentially exposing affected migrants who do not have another lawful basis to remain in the US to deportation.
Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had previously blocked the termination after four Somali nationals and two advocacy groups, including African Communities Together, challenged the move.
The Trump administration announced in January that it planned to end Somalia’s TPS designation. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem argued that conditions in Somalia had improved sufficiently for the humanitarian protections to be terminated, according to Fox News.
Supreme Court ruling limits judicial review
The latest decision follows a June ruling in Mullin v Doe, which held that the TPS statute bars judicial review of certain non-constitutional decisions by the administration to terminate TPS designations.
The ruling also found that an equal-protection challenge in that case was unlikely to succeed, limiting the ability of lower courts to intervene in similar efforts by the Trump administration to end TPS protections for nationals of several countries.
Plaintiffs challenging the Somalia termination had argued that the administration’s decision was motivated by racial and national-origin discrimination. They pointed to previous remarks by Trump about Somalis.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the plaintiffs amended their complaint to raise new constitutional claims and sought emergency relief to prevent the termination from taking effect.
Burroughs issued an administrative stay earlier this month after the plaintiffs alleged that the administration had violated the Fifth Amendment by terminating Somalia’s TPS designation on discriminatory grounds.
In Friday’s ruling, the judge said the plaintiffs had presented a compelling case and were likely to suffer irreparable harm. However, she concluded that the Supreme Court’s ruling constrained her ability to continue blocking the administration’s action.
Burroughs said she was “bound … to view things through the Mullin prism”, according to Fox News.
How many Somali nationals could be affected?
The administration’s decision affects several thousand Somali nationals currently living in the US.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services sources previously told Fox News Digital that 2,471 Somali nationals currently have TPS, while another 1,383 have pending TPS applications.
