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Trump is seeking to end protected status for South Sudan, claiming country no longer poses danger to those returning.
Published On 30 Dec 2025
A federal judge has blocked the administration of President Donald Trump from stripping temporary protections from deportations for South Sudanese citizens living in the United States.
US District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston, Massachusetts, granted an emergency request on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by several South Sudanese nationals and an immigrant rights group.
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The order prevents the temporary protected status (TPS) for South Sudanese citizens from expiring on January 5 as the Trump administration has sought.
The lawsuit, led by the African Communities Together, accuses the US Department of Homeland Security of acting unlawfully in its effort to strip South Sudanese citizens of TPS, a US immigration status granted to citizens of countries experiencing natural disasters, conflict or other extraordinary circumstances that could make return to their homelands dangerous.
The status was initially granted for South Sudan in 2011 when the country officially broke away from Sudan. It has been repeatedly renewed amid repeated bouts of fighting, widespread displacement and regional instability.
The status allows eligible individuals to work and receive temporary protection from deportation.
The lawsuit further alleged that the Trump administration exposed South Sudan citizens to being deported to a country facing what is widely considered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a notice published on November 5, had argued the country no longer met the conditions for TPS.
“With the renewed peace in South Sudan, their demonstrated commitment to ensuring the safe reintegration of returning nationals, and improved diplomatic relations, now is the right time to conclude what was always intended to be a temporary designation,” she said, appearing to refer to a tenuous 2018 peace agreement.
The statement contradicted the findings of a panel of United Nations experts, who wrote in a report to the UN Security Council in November that “while the contours of the conflict may be altered, the resulting human suffering has remained unchanged.”
“Ongoing conflict and aerial bombardments, coupled with flooding and the influx of returnees and refugees from the Sudan, have led to near-record levels of food insecurity, with pockets of famine reported in some of the communities most affected by renewed fighting,” it added.
The Trump administration has increasingly targeted TPS as part of its crackdown on immigration and its mass deportation drive.
It has moved to similarly end TPS for foreign nationals from countries including Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua, prompting several court challenges.
It has also sought to deport individuals to countries in Africa, even if they have no ties there.
