On Friday, a federal district court judge in the District of Massachusetts allowed the termination of Somalia’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation to move forward by lifting the administrative stay that temporarily paused the termination of the program while legal arguments were heard in the case.
On July 30, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint arguing that the termination of Somalia’s TPS designation discriminated on the basis of race and national origin. The complaint also contained new claims that the termination violated the due process rights of Somali TPS holders and that the government official who purportedly terminated Somalia’s TPS designation did not have the legal authority to do so.
Although the district court recognized the “undisguised racial animus” inherent in the termination of Somalia’s TPS, the importance of TPS benefits, and the “convincing showing” of irreparable harm, the court felt bound by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2026 decision in Mullin v. Doe that greenlit the Trump administration’s discriminatory agenda to terminate TPS for Haiti and Syria.
The Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are African Communities Together (ACT), Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA), and four Somali community members who have lived and worked in the U.S. for many years and who all have U.S. citizen family members. They now face significant harms from the termination, among them detention, deportation, loss of work authorization, and separation from their family members, loved ones, and communities. The Plaintiffs are represented by Muslim Advocates, Haitian Bridge Alliance, and the Legal Defense Fund, in a lawsuit supported by Communities United for Status and Protection (CUSP).
The Plaintiffs and their legal representatives made the following statement:
“This decision delivers a tremendous blow to the safety of Somali TPS communities all across the nation, opening the door to deportation and violence at the hands of federal agents. We are deeply dismayed at the devastation that will be left in the wake of this ruling but will not stop in our fight to protect the rights of Somali people.”
Source: Kare11.com
