Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of South Sudanese nationals residing in the United States is set to end after a federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration's effort to strip these protections.

On Friday, August 7th, 2026, US District Judge Patti Saris of Massachusetts rejected a legal attempt by immigrant rights groups, including the New York-based African Communities Together, to preserve TPS for South Sudanese nationals living in the US.

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 decisions in New York and Washington DC that had blocked the administration's efforts.

TPS grants eligible individuals from countries experiencing crises—such as civil war or environmental disasters—the right to remain temporarily in the US, protecting them from deportation and allowing legal employment.

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

Following the ruling, James Percival, DHS general counsel, posted on X (formerly Twitter): “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 ruling, 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 such argument claimed that the 1990 statute establishing TPS assigned authority to extend or terminate protections solely to the attorney general, not DHS.

Sources