A federal judge just handed President Trump a major immigration victory โ clearing the way for his administration to terminate temporary legal protections for thousands of Somali nationals living in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston lifted a stay Friday that had blocked the Department of Homeland Security from ending Somalia’s Temporary Protected Status designation.
The decision means affected migrants who lack another lawful basis to remain in the U.S. now face potential deportation.
“PLAINTIFFS HAVE MADE A CONVINCING SHOWING THAT THEY WILL SUFFER IRREPARABLE HARM… BUT I AM BOUND TO VIEW THINGS THROUGH THE MULLIN PRISM.”
Burroughs, an Obama appointee, had previously blocked the termination in a lawsuit brought by four Somali nationals and two advocacy groups. But the Supreme Court’s June ruling in Mullin v. Doe sharply limited judicial review of administration decisions to terminate TPS designations.
The Trump administration announced in January it planned to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem argued that conditions in the country had improved enough to end the humanitarian protections.
The Supreme Court ruling curtailed lower courts’ ability to review Trump administration efforts to terminate TPS designations for nationals of multiple countries.
Plaintiffs challenging the termination alleged the administration’s decision was motivated by bias against non-White immigrants. They pointed to Trump’s previous descriptions of Somalis during prior immigration debates.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint raising new constitutional claims. They alleged the administration violated the Fifth Amendment by terminating Somalia’s TPS designation based on racial and national-origin discrimination.
Burroughs issued an administrative stay earlier this month after African Communities Together and other plaintiffs made their Fifth Amendment argument.
In Friday’s ruling, Burroughs said the plaintiffs had presented a compelling case. But she concluded that the Supreme Court’s decision constrained her ability to continue blocking the administration’s action.
She wrote that the plaintiffs made a “convincing showing” they would suffer irreparable harm if the injunction was withheld. The balance of hardships and the public interest also favored the plaintiffs, she noted, given that the government made no showing that maintaining TPS status during litigation would impose an undue burden.
Despite those findings, Burroughs lifted the stay.
The decision affects several thousand Somali nationals currently living in the United States.
Sources at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told Fox News Digital that 2,471 Somali nationals in the U.S. currently have TPS, while another 1,383 have pending TPS applications.
The ruling follows the Supreme Court’s broader pattern of backing Trump administration immigration enforcement โ delivering what the president’s allies are calling a validation of his America First border policies.
