The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge in Massachusetts on April 8 temporarily postponed the planned end of Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopians, leaving the designation in place while the lawsuit moves forward. U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy granted the plaintiffs’ motion in African Communities Together v. Noem and postponed the effective date of the termination of Ethiopia’s TPS designation.

The order does not decide the case on the merits. In the ruling, Murphy said the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the Department of Homeland Security did not follow the process required by the TPS statute. He also said the plaintiffs could suffer immediate harm if the termination took effect, including the loss of work authorization and exposure to removal. The court’s action is a temporary pause, not a final ruling on whether Ethiopia’s TPS designation should end.

Ethiopia was designated for TPS in 2022 and extended in 2024. DHS published the termination notice in December 2025, setting a February 13, 2026 effective date. The lawsuit challenges that termination and seeks to keep TPS protections in place while the court reviews the claims.

The White House has separately cast its immigration agenda as a move away from what it calls amnesty-style policies. But the April 8 order stands on narrower ground: the judge said the termination could not take effect yet because the statutory process appears to have been mishandled. For now, that leaves Ethiopian TPS holders in place pending further litigation, with the broader dispute still unresolved.