Trump Scores Major Immigration Victory as Judge Clears Way to End TPS for Somalis

President Donald Trump's administration scored a major immigration victory Friday when a federal judge lifted the last legal barrier standing between the government and the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston cleared the Department of Homeland Security to terminate the designation, which has shielded roughly 1,100 Somali nationals from deportation for decades. The ruling follows the Supreme Court's June decision that sharply limited judicial review of the administration's TPS terminations. It moves the administration one step closer to completing a sweeping overhaul of a program that critics say long outlived its temporary purpose.

Judge Lifts the Stay

Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had blocked the termination in March after four Somali TPS holders and two advocacy groups filed suit to stop it. On Friday she reversed course, citing the high court's ruling in Mullin v. Doe, which held that federal law generally bars courts from reviewing DHS decisions to end TPS designations.

The judge acknowledged that the plaintiffs made a convincing showing that they could suffer irreparable harm if the protections were stripped. But she concluded they had not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, the standard required to keep an injunction in place. She wrote that she was bound to view the case through the Mullin prism, and that circumstantial evidence of targeting was not enough to sustain a race-based equal protection claim after that decision.

A Supreme Court Game Changer

Everything shifted in June, when the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority ruled in Mullin v. Doe that courts lack authority to second-guess the administration's TPS terminations. The decision cleared the way for the administration to end similar protections for Haitians and Syrians, and lower courts have since applied it to country after country.

DHS moved quickly after the ruling. Two other federal judges last week allowed the administration to end TPS for South Sudan and Myanmar. With Friday's decision, Somalia's designation is now cleared for termination as well. Only Ethiopia's TPS remains blocked in court, making it the last holdout in the administration's push to wind down designations for 13 countries.

Decades of 'Temporary' Protection

Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991, meaning the program has now run for 35 years under a label that was never supposed to be permanent. Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published a notice terminating Somalia's designation on Jan. 14, and the lawsuit followed in March.

The practical impact of Friday's ruling is substantial. Sources at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services previously told Fox News Digital that 2,471 Somali nationals currently hold TPS, with another 1,383 applications pending, while Reuters put the number of direct beneficiaries at roughly 1,100. Those who cannot secure another lawful immigration status now face removal proceedings and the loss of work authorization. For supporters of the administration's immigration agenda, the ruling is the latest proof that the courts are no longer standing in the way of enforcement.

What Happens Next

The administration is now free to move forward with ending Somalia's TPS designation, though the underlying litigation is not fully closed. Burroughs allowed the termination to proceed while the case continues, meaning the plaintiffs can still press remaining claims. But with the Supreme Court having already drawn the boundaries, the legal road ahead for TPS challengers looks increasingly narrow.

For the Trump administration, the string of TPS victories is part of a much larger pattern: border crossings are down, deportation flights are up, and the legal obstacles that once slowed enforcement are falling one by one. The Somalia ruling is the latest sign that the era of permanent temporary status is coming to an end.