Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 7
Judge Saris Lets Trump End TPS for 232 South Sudanese After 6-3 Supreme Court Shift
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 7

Judge Saris Lets Trump End TPS for 232 South Sudanese After 6-3 Supreme Court Shift

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 7

Summary

  • A Massachusetts federal judge cleared the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for more than 232 South Sudanese in the US, plus at least 73 applicants whose cases are still pending.
  • In a 15-page ruling, Judge Patti Saris rejected claims that Homeland Security lacked authority to terminate TPS, finding Congress transferred that power from the attorney general to DHS after 2002.
  • The decision follows a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in June that let the administration move to strip TPS from more than 350,000 Haitians and about 6,100 Syrians, reversing lower-court blocks.
  • South Sudan first received TPS in 2011, but DHS said in November the country no longer met the standard despite ongoing civil war, instability and a conflict that has killed more than 400,000 people.
  • Losing TPS removes work authorization and deportation protection; advocates say TPS holders overall pay $7.8 billion a year in taxes and work in sectors including construction, hospitality and healthcare.

Insights

With court protections expiring in 2026, what immediate legal options remain for South Sudanese workers facing deportation to a conflict zone?
How will the healthcare and construction industries adapt to sudden workforce shortages as temporary protected statuses are abruptly terminated?
Could sending integrated workers back to an active crisis zone trigger a broader international humanitarian emergency?