US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs lifted an administrative stay on August 14, 2026, allowing President Donald Trump's administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia. Burroughs said the challengers had shown that the termination would cause irreparable harm but had not shown that their case was likely to succeed.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimated 1,082 approved beneficiaries and 1,383 pending applications as of December 8, 2025. The ruling removes protection based on Somalia's TPS designation, but it does not determine whether each person has another lawful basis to remain or work in the United States.

The stay ended after a Supreme Court ruling

DHS published its termination notice on January 14 and originally set March 17, 2026, as the effective date. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Somalia no longer met the statutory conditions for TPS and that continuing the designation was contrary to the US national interest. The notice followed a July 2024 extension and redesignation that had carried Somalia's protection through March 17.

African Communities Together, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, three Somali TPS holders and one applicant filed suit on March 9. They alleged that DHS had used a deficient review process and that the termination reflected racial and national-origin discrimination, citing Trump's public remarks about Somalis.

Burroughs issued an administrative stay on March 13 that preserved TPS-based protection from removal and eligibility for work authorization while the court reviewed the dispute. The judge later paused the case while the US Supreme Court considered two other TPS challenges.

Passports and immigration documents stacked on a table (illustrative image)
TPS can provide protection from removal and eligibility for work authorization while a country's designation remains in force. (Illustrative image) Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki on Pexels

What the Supreme Court decided

In a 6-3 ruling on June 25, the US Supreme Court held in Mullin v. Doe that the TPS statute bars courts from hearing nonconstitutional claims challenging the process or result of DHS country-designation decisions. The consolidated cases concerned Syria and Haiti, not Somalia. The court separately concluded that the Haitian challengers were unlikely to succeed on their equal-protection claim at the interim-relief stage.

That distinction limits the ruling's reach. The Supreme Court did not decide the Somalia lawsuit, and the majority did not hold that courts can never hear a constitutional challenge to a TPS termination. Its decision nevertheless removed the statutory routes that supported much of the Somalia challenge and set a difficult precedent for the discrimination claim.

Applying that precedent, Burroughs found that the Somalia plaintiffs could not establish the likelihood of success required to keep the stay in place. The August 14 order allowed DHS to proceed while the underlying lawsuit continues, so it did not resolve every claim through a final judgment.

What termination means for beneficiaries

TPS is a temporary, country-based classification under US immigration law. Eligible people already in the United States may remain and obtain employment authorization while their country's designation is active. TPS does not itself grant permanent residence or create an automatic route to citizenship.

When a country designation ends, a beneficiary returns to any immigration category held before TPS, if it remains valid, or to another status obtained in the meantime. A person whose only protection and employment authorization came from TPS loses those legal bases, but the judge's order does not place every beneficiary on the same removal timetable.

Some beneficiaries may have separate asylum claims, visas, permanent residence or other authorization. APPI News could not verify how many of the 1,082 approved beneficiaries had another valid status or independent permission to work at the time of writing.

The official count is a dated snapshot

DHS described 1,082 as an estimate of approved beneficiaries on December 8, 2025. Its notice separately recorded 1,383 pending applications. Neither figure is a beneficiary-by-beneficiary count of who lost protection immediately after the August ruling.

Somalia first received TPS on September 16, 1991, after the collapse of Siad Barre's government and the start of prolonged civil conflict. US administrations repeatedly extended or redesignated the country over the next 35 years. The latest termination reflects DHS's assessment of country conditions, while the plaintiffs continue to dispute the review process and the administration's motivation.

The lawsuit remains open

The August 14 ruling removed the court order that had blocked DHS from implementing the January termination notice. The plaintiffs may continue litigating the claims that remain available and may seek further review, so a later court order could alter the legal position again.

For now, Somalia's country designation no longer supplies TPS protection. The practical effect for each beneficiary depends on any other immigration status, pending case or work authorization that person holds, and APPI News could not find an official individual-level count at the time of writing.