US Judge Blocks Trump Plan to End Deportation Protections for South Sudanese Migrants

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the US President Donald Trump administration’s move to end temporary deportation protections for hundreds of South Sudanese nationals living in the United States.

US District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston granted an emergency request from several South Sudanese nationals and an immigrant rights organisation, stopping the temporary protected status (TPS) from expiring as scheduled after January 5.

The decision marks a temporary victory for immigrant advocates and a setback for the Trump administration’s broader push to roll back the humanitarian programme. It is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the administration’s efforts to terminate similar protections for migrants from other countries, including Syria, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua.

Judge Kelley issued the order after four South Sudanese migrants, along with the non-profit group African Communities Together, filed a lawsuit arguing that the US Department of Homeland Security’s action was unlawful and would expose them to deportation to a country grappling with ongoing humanitarian crises.

Appointed by former Democratic president Joe Biden, Kelley issued an administrative stay that temporarily blocks the policy while the case proceeds. She wrote that allowing the termination to take effect before the court could assess the merits of the case “would result in an immediate impact on the South Sudanese nationals, stripping current beneficiaries of lawful status, which could imminently result in their deportation.”

In response, Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the ruling ignored President Trump’s constitutional and statutory authority, adding that TPS for South Sudanese nationals “was never intended to be a de facto asylum programme.”

South Sudan has been plagued by conflict since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. Although a five-year civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people formally ended in 2018, fighting continues in many parts of the country. The US State Department currently advises Americans against travelling there.

The United States first designated South Sudan for TPS in 2011. The status is granted to nationals of countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions, allowing eligible migrants to live and work legally in the US while shielding them from deportation.

According to the lawsuit, about 232 South Sudanese nationals currently hold TPS, with another 73 applications pending. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of the designation in a notice published on November 5, saying South Sudan no longer met the criteria.

The lawsuit contends that the decision violated the law governing the TPS programme, ignored continuing humanitarian dangers in South Sudan, and was driven by discrimination against non-white migrants, in violation of the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.

“The singular aim of this mass deportation agenda is to remove as many Black and Brown immigrants from this country as quickly and as cruelly as possible,” said Diana Konate, deputy executive director for policy and advocacy at African Communities Together, in a statement.