A federal judge lifted his block on ending temporary protected status for immigrants from Ethiopia on Tuesday, meaning all of the Trump administration’s orders terminating TPS for various countries are now allowed to go into effect after the Supreme Court gave the green light earlier this summer.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, lifted an administrative order that had prevented the Department of Homeland Security from ending TPS for Ethiopia, denying an effort by activists to delay the end of the status further. Murphy had been the final judge holding out on allowing TPS to end for one of the more than a dozen countries for which the administration had axed TPS, after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that the decision to revoke TPS was unreviewable by courts in nearly all instances.
Murphy had been one of a handful of district court judges who delayed the termination of TPS for some countries, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had held up the termination of TPS for Somalia until lifting her administrative stay late last week.
DHS General Counsel James Percival celebrated Murphy’s decision to lift the block on ending TPS by posting a meme saying he was “marked safe from TPS judges today,” including the caption “Judge Brian Murphy just lifted the stay of Ethiopia TPS termination. All TPS terminations are in effect!”
Judge Brian Murphy just lifted the stay of Ethiopia TPS termination. All TPS terminations are in effect! pic.twitter.com/5ltldRg2u9
— James Percival (@DHSGenCounsel) August 18, 2026
Murphy did, however, keep alive one of the claims the TPS activists had filed against the Trump administration, meaning the case will continue, but TPS will be revoked for the Ethiopian immigrants who had benefited from TPS as it proceeds. The Supreme Court’s June ruling barred any legal challenge to the revocation of TPS for non-constitutional claims, but it left open the ability for constitutional challenges to DHS’s decision to end TPS for a country.
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Although the legal saga over TPS revocations is likely over, the Trump administration is still fighting other legal battles over immigration policies that are likely to make their way to the Supreme Court.
One of the most hotly contested battles is over its mandatory detention policy for illegal immigrants, where federal appeals courts have been bitterly divided over whether the policy is lawful. The Supreme Court is currently considering petitions that could be taken up for arguments as soon as the justices’ next term begins in October.