US judges allow Trump to end protections for migrants from South Sudan, Myanmar

WASHINGTON - Two federal judges on Aug 7 cleared the way for US President Donald Trump’s administration to end temporary protections from deportation that had allowed thousands of people from South Sudan and Myanmar to live and work in the United States.

Judges in Boston and Chicago rejected last-ditch efforts by immigrant-rights advocates to maintain the Temporary Protected Status designations for the two countries after the US Supreme Court in June allowed the administration to end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.

The Supreme Court’s ruling, powered by its 6-3 conservative majority, curtailed the ability of lower-court judges to review the US Department of Homeland Security’s efforts under Trump to end TPS for about a dozen countries.

The designation covers people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events, providing eligible migrants temporary protection from deportation and work authorisation.

DHS moved in November to terminate TPS for conflict-ridden South Sudan, which was first designated for that status in 2011, and Myanmar, also known as Burma, which has been in political turmoil since the military seized power in a 2021 coup.

The department’s actions would have ended protections for about 232 South Sudanese and about 4,000 people from Myanmar.

Earlier orders by US District Judges Patti Saris in Boston and Matthew Kennelly in Chicago had blocked that from happening.

Legal challenge on new grounds

After the Supreme Court’s ruling, immigrant-rights lawyers made a new challenge, arguing DHS lacked the authority to terminate TPS.

Saris in a ruling on the morning of Aug 7 rejected the argument, saying it would call into question not only DHS’ authority to end TPS but also its longstanding authority to extend the protections.

Kennelly, an appointee under Democratic former US president Bill Clinton, reached a similar conclusion in the Myanmar case hours later.

James Percival, DHS’ general counsel, said on X that the two rulings meant that only DHS efforts to end TPS for Ethiopia and Somalia remain blocked by the courts. He urged other judges hearing similar TPS cases to rule in the government’s favour.

“Every day these ‘administrative stays’ are in effect is a day the American people are denied what they voted for,” he said. REUTERS