Overview
- U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston on Friday lifted her March administrative stay and permitted the Department of Homeland Security to terminate Somalia's TPS while the plaintiffs' lawsuit continues.
- Reports differ on how many people are affected, with Reuters citing nearly 1,100 Somali beneficiaries and local outlets estimating roughly 700, reflecting uncertainty in available counts.
- The ruling follows the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision that limited lower courts' ability to review DHS decisions to end TPS, and judges recently allowed similar terminations for South Sudan and Myanmar.
- The plaintiffs had argued the termination was procedurally flawed and motivated by bias, pointing to public comments by President Trump as evidence for an equal protection claim, but Burroughs found they were unlikely to win on the merits.
- Ending TPS would strip recipients of work authorization and protection from deportation and could lead to arrests or removals, a result advocates warn could cause hardship given ongoing violence and State Department travel warnings for Somalia.