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 attempts by immigrant rights groups, including the New York-based African Communities Together, to preserve TPS for South Sudanese nationals. This decision follows a June 2026 Supreme Court ruling, 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 move.

TPS grants eligible individuals from countries experiencing crises—such as civil war or environmental disasters—the right to stay temporarily in the US, protection from deportation, and legal work authorization.

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

Following the ruling, James Percival, DHS general counsel, posted on X urging other TPS judges to follow suit, stating, “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 such argument claimed that the 1990 statute establishing TPS granted authority to extend or terminate protections solely to the Attorney General, not DHS.

Sources