Federal U.S. Judge Backs Trump Administration's Decision to End South Sudan TPS

Herz — World Desk · 7 August 2026 at 20:31 · 30s summary · 3 min read

What We Know

On August 7, 2026, Federal Judge Patti Saris of the Massachusetts District Court upheld the termination of TPS (Temporary Protected Status), a temporary protection status established by a 1990 U.S. law, for South Sudanese nationals in the United States. According to The Guardian, she rejected appeals from several immigrant advocacy organizations, including New York-based African Communities Together.

The ruling marks a reversal: the same judge had previously blocked the measure through an earlier injunction from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created in 2002 in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. More than 232 South Sudanese nationals and at least 73 pending applications are affected by the TPS termination.

In her 15-page ruling, Saris concluded that the plaintiffs' argument was 'self-contradictory': if the DHS lacked authority to terminate the South Sudan TPS, it would not have had authority to establish it initially.

The plaintiff organizations challenged the DHS's authority, arguing that the 1990 law mentioned only the U.S. Attorney General. Judge Saris concluded that Congress transferred these powers to the DHS when it transferred immigration functions from the Department of Justice.

James Percival, DHS general counsel, responded on X, calling on all judges handling other TPS cases to issue similar rulings.

Background

In June 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration, authorizing the termination of TPS for more than 350,000 Haitian nationals and approximately 6,100 Syrian nationals, overturning lower court injunctions from New York and Washington, D.C.

South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011, has been devastated by civil war and ethnic violence that killed more than 400,000 people. The country received its first TPS designation upon independence in 2011.

The DHS decided in November to terminate South Sudan's TPS, citing the country's failure to meet program requirements. The Trump administration is terminating TPS for nationals of countries to which the U.S. government itself applies its highest-level travel warnings, including South Sudan, Haiti, and Syria.

The Numbers