The Trump administration has secured a significant immigration victory after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overturned a lower court order that temporarily blocked the administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudan and Ethiopia.
In a decisive ruling, the First Circuit reversed the lower court order, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mullin v. Doe, which foreclosed the legal arguments relied upon by the plaintiffs.
The appeals court held that the Supreme Court's June 25 ruling made clear that the TPS statute bars judicial review of all non-constitutional challenges to the Homeland Security Secretary's decisions regarding TPS designations and terminations.
The court explained that the Supreme Court held that the TPS statute's judicial-review bar applies to all non-constitutional claims challenging the Secretary's TPS determinations, and those were the only claims supporting the district court's injunction.
The First Circuit granted the Trump administration's request for summary reversal, denied its request for a stay as moot, and sent the case back to the district court for proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court's decision.
This ruling dismantles another judicial roadblock erected against the lawful termination of a TPS designation that DHS determined no longer met statutory conditions.
The decision to terminate South Sudan's TPS designation was made by former Secretary Kristi Noem and current Secretary Markwayne Mullin after a review of country conditions, with termination originally set for January 5, 2026.
A single district judge in Massachusetts had previously stayed that termination at the request of African Communities Together and several anonymous "Doe" plaintiffs, keeping roughly 200-plus South Sudanese TPS holders shielded from removal despite the administration's determination.
The appeals court also reversed a lower court order that had postponed the TPS termination for Ethiopia, concluding that the Supreme Court's decision in Mullin v. Doe foreclosed the plaintiffs' legal claims.
The immediate effect is that DHS is no longer blocked by this injunction from ending TPS for South Sudan. The case now returns to the district court, where any remaining constitutional claims, if preserved, will be evaluated under the Supreme Court's decision in Mullin.
