Judge blocks US gov’t move to end deportation protections for Ethiopians 

A federal judge has halted the Trump administration’s plan to strip deportation protections from thousands of Ethiopians living in the United States.

Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued the order on Friday, delaying a February 13 deadline that would have forced more than 5,000 Ethiopians to leave the country or face arrest.

The ruling represents the latest legal setback to the administration’s broader push to end temporary protections for more than one million people across multiple countries.

Murphy’s decision came during a virtual hearing, where he said the delay would provide time for the Department of Homeland Security to produce records explaining its decision-making process before he considers blocking the move for longer.

“I want to do everything I can to keep this case going,” the judge said.

The case was brought by three Ethiopian nationals and the advocacy group African Communities Together, who filed suit after the DHS announced in December it was terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) first granted to Ethiopia in 2022.

The lawsuit argues the administration unlawfully ended the protections with just 60 days’ notice despite ongoing armed conflict in the African nation.

Plaintiffs also claim Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acted based on an “unconstitutional animus against non-white immigrants”.

The move came even as the State Department continues urging Americans to reconsider travel to Ethiopia due to “sporadic violent conflict, civil unrest, crime, communications disruptions, terrorism and kidnapping”.

The DHS defended the termination by pointing to recent peace agreements, including a 2022 ceasefire in Tigray, despite renewed fighting in the region this month.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said TPS “was never intended to be a de facto amnesty programme, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades”.

The ruling follows a similar decision a day earlier when a federal appeals court found the administration unlawfully ended protections for 600,000 Venezuelans.

That three-judge panel said Noem’s actions were based on “racist stereotyping” and left people “in a constant state of fear that they will be deported, detained, separated from their families”.

About a dozen countries now face TPS terminations as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Some 350,000 Haitians are set to lose protections on February 3, while Somalis face a March 17 deadline, despite the State Department maintaining a “Do Not Travel” warning for Somalia.

The legal battles come as protests rock the US against the Trump administration’s deportation drive, following the killing of two American citizens by immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota this month.