A federal judge lifted the last remaining legal barrier to the Trump administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status for roughly 5,000 Ethiopian nationals, completing a sweep across more than a dozen countries and setting the stage for deportation proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled that the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to cancel TPS for Ethiopians, dismissing several claims brought by Ethiopian nationals and the advocacy group African Communities Together. The decision removes the final judicial hold on the administration's broader campaign to wind down TPS designations it inherited from the Biden era, meaning all terminations across every targeted country are now fully in effect.

DHS wasted no time declaring victory. The department posted on X that those with terminated TPS "are in our nation ILLEGALLY" and face two options: "LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED." DHS General Counsel James Percival celebrated the ruling on the same platform, writing: "All TPS terminations are in effect!"

The ruling marks the final domino in an effort President Trump has pursued since taking office, cancelling temporary protections for foreign nationals from countries the administration says are now safe enough for their citizens to return.

Murphy found DHS holds the authority, and individuals aren't owed hearings

Murphy's ruling addressed a lawsuit filed by Ethiopian TPS holders who argued the cancellation was unlawful. The judge dismissed some of those claims, finding that DHS possesses the statutory authority to terminate TPS designations and that affected individuals are not entitled to individual hearings before the government revokes their status. That finding tracks with the broader legal trajectory Fox News reported: the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that decisions to revoke TPS are unreviewable by courts in nearly all instances.

Murphy did leave one door open. He is allowing the plaintiffs to continue litigating whether the cancellation was motivated by racial or national origin animus, a claim that, if proven, would violate the U.S. Constitution. That thread of the case remains live, but it no longer blocks enforcement.

The Supreme Court's June decision had already cleared the path for DHS to enforce TPS terminations for thousands of Haitian and Syrian nationals. Ethiopia was the last country where a court order still stood in the way. With Murphy's ruling, the administration has overcome the judicial resistance that had slowed its immigration enforcement agenda for months.

Biden granted TPS after a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands

The Biden administration first designated Ethiopia for TPS at the end of 2022, following the devastating civil war in the northern Tigray region. That conflict, which pitted the Ethiopian federal government against the Tigray People's Liberation Front, killed hundreds of thousands before the 2022 Pretoria Agreement ended the fighting.

At the time of the designation, the government estimated more than 20,000 displaced Ethiopians who had been living continuously in the United States since October 2022 would qualify. The current figure of roughly 5,000 active TPS holders suggests a significant gap between projected eligibility and actual enrollment, though the reasons for that decline are not specified in available reporting.

DHS, under then-Secretary Kristi Noem, first announced it was ending TPS for Ethiopians in December, stating that conditions in Ethiopia were safe. That assessment drew immediate pushback from advocacy groups and from Ethiopians who pointed to continuing instability in the country.

Murphy, notably, is a Biden appointee, a detail that undercuts any suggestion this ruling was the product of a friendly bench. The judge applied the law as the Supreme Court had framed it and reached the same conclusion the high court reached for Haiti and Syria months earlier. Courts across the federal system have now grappled with major Trump-era immigration policies, and on TPS the administration's legal position has held.

Conditions in Ethiopia remain volatile despite the peace deal

Opponents of the termination argue that the administration's safety assessment does not match reality on the ground. Diana Konaté, deputy executive director of policy and advocacy at African Communities Together, told Reuters the ruling endangered lives.

"The crisis in Ethiopia is still ongoing, and this decision puts the lives of thousands of Ethiopians living in the US at severe risk."

Recent weeks have brought fighting and drone strikes in parts of Tigray, nearly four years after the Pretoria Agreement was supposed to have ended the war. The TPLF has moved to restore the prewar regional government and dismantle the interim administration appointed by Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy's government. Abiy's government has repeatedly accused Tigrayan leaders of cooperating with neighboring Eritrea and the Sudanese military, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

Ethiopia's two most-populous regional states, Oromia and Amhara, are also grappling with armed insurgencies. Millions in Tigray live with growing fears that the fragile peace could collapse entirely.

Those facts present a genuine tension. But TPS was always designed as a temporary measure, the name says so, and the legal question before Judge Murphy was whether DHS had the authority to end it, not whether Ethiopia's situation is fully resolved. On that narrow question, the court sided with the administration, consistent with the string of consequential rulings that have reshaped the boundaries of executive authority this term.

Every TPS termination now stands, across more than a dozen countries

With the Ethiopian hold lifted, the Trump administration has achieved something no previous administration attempted at this scale: simultaneous TPS terminations across every country it targeted. DHS had already ended protections for several South and Central American countries, including Venezuela and Honduras. The BBC reported that Trump has sought to cancel TPS for people from more than a dozen nations as part of his broader immigration enforcement campaign.

The practical question now shifts from the courtroom to enforcement. DHS has signaled it intends to move quickly, but the logistics of locating and removing thousands of people whose legal status changed overnight remain uncertain. The department's blunt social media messaging, all-caps warnings to leave or face deportation, suggests the administration wants to maximize the deterrent effect of the ruling.

For the roughly 5,000 Ethiopians directly affected, the remaining racial-animus claim offers a slender legal thread but no immediate shield. Murphy's ruling permits enforcement to proceed while that litigation continues. Unless a higher court intervenes, these individuals now face the same choice DHS laid out: depart voluntarily or wait for removal proceedings.

The administration has also welcomed signs of a favorable judicial landscape beyond the TPS fight, with key allies on the bench signaling they intend to stay.

Temporary Protected Status was never meant to be permanent residency by another name. When the courts confirm that a president can end what a predecessor started, the law is working exactly as written, even when the politics are uncomfortable.