A Massachusetts federal judge, District Judge Allison Burroughs, has once again blocked the Trump administration from terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia by issuing a new administrative stay. This action follows plaintiffs rewriting their lawsuit to focus on constitutional claims shortly after a federal appeals court rejected similar stays for Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Judge Burroughs, appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued the stay on Friday after African Communities Together and other plaintiffs filed an amended complaint. The complaint alleges that the Trump administration violated the Fifth Amendment by terminating Somalia's TPS designation based on racial and national-origin discrimination.

The plaintiffs submitted the amended complaint and an emergency motion on Thursday, seeking to maintain Somalia's TPS protections despite the Supreme Court's June ruling in Mullin v. Doe, which limited lower courts' ability to block TPS terminations.

The amended lawsuit contends that the Department of Homeland Security's decision to revoke Somalia's TPS was predetermined, citing President Donald Trump's November 2025 Truth Social post announcing the end of TPS months before DHS completed its review process. Plaintiffs argue this deprived Somali TPS holders of the fair process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

Judge Burroughs has declared the TPS termination "void" for now while deciding if any claims justify a more permanent pause. Her latest order has intensified criticism over whether district judges are using administrative stays to circumvent higher court rulings. Notably, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed similar stays issued by U.S. District Judges Brian Murphy and Patti Saris, who had temporarily delayed TPS terminations for Ethiopia and South Sudan.

The situation highlights ongoing legal battles over TPS terminations and the balance between executive decisions and judicial review.

Sources