DHS Secretary Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia, stripping about 5,000 Ethiopians of protection

On December 15, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published a notice in the Federal Register terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation for Ethiopia, effective February 13, 2026. Ethiopia had held TPS since 2022, when the Biden administration designated it amid the armed conflict that began in the Tigray region in late 2020 and later spread to other parts of the country; the designation was extended in 2024 given the ongoing conflict. The termination notice affected roughly 5,000 Ethiopian nationals then holding TPS.

DHS said in the notice that, after reviewing country conditions and consulting other agencies, the Secretary determined Ethiopia no longer met the statutory threshold for TPS. A USCIS spokesperson said conditions in Ethiopia "no longer pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals." The State Department's own travel advisory for Ethiopia, renewed April 1, 2026, continued to instruct Americans to "reconsider travel" due to unrest, crime, kidnapping, terrorism, and armed conflict active in multiple regions of the country, including areas under a "do not travel" designation.

African Communities Together and three Ethiopian TPS holders sued Noem, arguing the termination violated the Administrative Procedure Act because DHS failed to consult other agencies as the TPS statute requires and gave TPS holders only 60 days to prepare for the loss of status. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits, writing that the decision appeared "preordained and driven by a politically motivated objective to dismantle the TPS program," and that plaintiffs' evidence supported their claim that the termination was part of a broader effort targeting non-white immigrant populations.

Updates

2026-04-08 — Judge Murphy postponed the termination's effective date pending litigation [4, 5]

Ruling in African Communities Together v. Noem, Judge Murphy granted a preliminary injunction postponing the February 13, 2026 termination date while the case proceeded, finding DHS's decision likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

2026-08-18 — Judge Murphy lifted the postponement, clearing the way for termination to take effect [6, 7]

Judge Murphy denied a further request to postpone the termination, allowing it to proceed. The ruling followed a June 2026 Supreme Court decision limiting judicial review of TPS terminations for Syrian and Haitian nationals; Ethiopia's travel advisory remained at Level 3 at the time of the ruling.