Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of South Sudanese nationals residing in the United States is set to end after US District Judge Patti Saris of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the Trump administration's effort to strip these protections.

On Friday, August 7th, 2026, Judge Saris rejected an attempt by immigrant rights groups, including African Communities Together, to preserve TPS for South Sudanese nationals. This ruling follows a June 2026 Supreme Court decision, where a 6-3 conservative majority allowed the Trump administration to terminate TPS for over 350,000 Haitians and approximately 6,100 Syrians. The Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings from New York and Washington DC that had blocked the administration's attempts to end these protections.

TPS provides temporary refuge for eligible individuals from countries experiencing crises such as civil war or environmental disasters, protecting them from deportation and allowing legal employment in the US.

In her 15-page opinion, Saris stated that the plaintiffs’ arguments were "self-contradictory" and "self-defeating," reasoning that if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lacked authority to terminate South Sudan’s TPS, it would also have lacked authority to designate TPS initially.

Following the ruling, James Percival, DHS general counsel, posted on X: “Every other TPS judge must do the same! Every day these ‘administrative stays’ are in effect is a day the American people are denied what they voted for.”

After the Supreme Court decision, lawyers representing South Sudanese nationals and African Communities Together urged Judge Saris to block the TPS termination on new legal grounds not addressed by the justices. One argument cited that the 1990 statute establishing TPS referred only to the attorney general as having authority to extend or terminate TPS protections, not DHS.

The case highlights ongoing legal debates over the authority to manage TPS designations and terminations.

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