Two US federal judges have cleared the path for the Trump administration to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from nationals of South Sudan and Myanmar, exposing hundreds of people to potential deportation to countries still gripped by conflict and instability. Judges in Boston and Chicago on Friday rejected last-ditch legal challenges by immigrant-rights advocates, rulings that follow a landmark June Supreme Court decision allowing the administration to end similar protections for Haitians and Syrians.

TPS, established by Congress in 1990, shields people already present in the United States from deportation and grants them work authorisation when their home countries are affected by armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions. The terminations affect approximately 232 South Sudanese nationals and around 4,000 people from Myanmar. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had moved in November 2025 to end both designations — South Sudan had held TPS status since 2011, the year it gained independence following decades of civil war, while Myanmar's designation reflected the political turmoil that followed a 2021 military coup.

Advocates had argued that DHS lacked the statutory authority to terminate TPS, pointing out that the 1990 law creating the programme named only the attorney general — not DHS, which was created in 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks — as the official empowered to extend or end protections. US District Judge Patti Saris in Boston dismissed that argument, writing that the plaintiffs' reasoning was "self-contradictory" and would equally invalidate the original TPS designations. Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago reached a similar conclusion hours later in the Myanmar case.

The rulings drew sharp condemnation from humanitarian organisations. Global Refuge CEO Krish O'Mara Vignarajah warned that South Sudan — a country where more than 400,000 people have been killed since independence and roughly 10 million now depend on humanitarian aid — "is on the brink of a return to all-out civil war." Critics also noted a striking contradiction: the US State Department currently issues its highest-level travel warnings, advising Americans not to visit South Sudan, Haiti and several other countries from which TPS is being removed. DHS General Counsel James Percival, however, welcomed the rulings, writing on X that "every day these administrative stays are in effect is a day the American people are denied what they voted for."

The broader rollback of TPS is reshaping the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across multiple nationalities. More than 300,000 Haitians have already lost protections following the Supreme Court ruling, with immigration officials beginning enforcement actions including the use of ankle monitors. A separate ruling this week also stripped employment authorisation from active TPS holders from El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan. Advocacy groups note that TPS holders have contributed an estimated $262 billion to the US economy since 2001, often working in construction, healthcare and hospitality — sectors already facing significant labour shortages. Those who lose status face arrest, detention and deportation, potentially barred from re-entering the United States for years.