MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge has cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, ending deportation protections for nearly 1,100 Somali nationals across the United States, as federal immigration data show enforcement against Somalis had already increased sharply before the court action.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston on Friday lifted an administrative stay that had temporarily prevented the Department of Homeland Security from ending Somalia’s TPS designation. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the termination became effective Aug. 14.
Temporary Protected Status allows eligible nationals of countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions to remain and work legally in the United States for limited periods. Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991 amid civil war and has remained covered through a series of extensions and redesignations for nearly 35 years.
The termination affects a relatively small share of the Somali population living in the United States. Reuters reported that nearly 1,100 Somalis held TPS when the court allowed the termination to proceed. Many other Somali immigrants are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, refugees, asylees or hold other immigration statuses and are not affected by the termination.
Losing TPS also does not automatically mean that every former beneficiary will be deported. Some may have another immigration status or separate applications for relief that allow them to remain in the country. But those whose only protection against removal came through TPS no longer have that protection.
The ruling could have particular significance in Minnesota, home to the largest Somali population in the United States.
ICE removals had already increased
The termination comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data show immigration enforcement against Somali nationals had already increased sharply before TPS protections were lifted.
During the first six months of fiscal year 2026, from Oct. 1, 2025, through March 31, ICE recorded 221 administrative arrests of Somali nationals, 237 detention book-ins and 133 removals, according to agency detention statistics published in July.
The 133 removals during the six-month period were already more than twice the 63 Somali nationals ICE reported removing during the entire 2024 fiscal year.
ICE also reported 82 detention book-ins involving Somali nationals during all of fiscal 2024, compared with 237 during the first half of fiscal 2026. Administrative arrests increased from 68 during fiscal 2024 to 221 during the first six months of fiscal 2026.
The figures are nationwide and do not show how many of those arrested, detained or removed lived in Minnesota. They also cover Somali nationals generally and do not identify how many, if any, were TPS holders.
Court challenge continues
The court ruling does not end the legal challenge to the administration’s decision.
African Communities Together, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and Somali TPS holders sued the administration earlier this year, arguing that the termination was improperly motivated by discrimination based on race and national origin.
The plaintiffs later amended their complaint to add due process claims and challenge whether the government official who terminated Somalia’s designation had the legal authority to do so.
Burroughs had previously blocked the termination while the case proceeded. But the judge lifted that stay Friday following a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited lower courts’ ability to review DHS decisions terminating TPS designations.
The Somalia action is part of a broader Trump administration effort to dismantle TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries around the world. The administration has moved to terminate TPS for every country whose designation has come up for review since President Donald Trump returned to office, although court challenges have delayed some terminations.
Court filings in one of the TPS cases show that 13 countries had come up for periodic review since Trump returned to office and the administration moved to terminate the designation for all 13, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
Other TPS designations remain in effect for now, including protections covering nationals of El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine.
The administration has argued that TPS was intended to provide temporary rather than permanent immigration protection and that conditions in countries whose designations it has terminated no longer justify continuing the program.
Immigrant-rights groups have challenged the administration’s decisions in federal courts, arguing in several cases that conditions remain dangerous and that the terminations were unlawful or discriminatory.
On Tuesday, Aug. 18, another federal judge in Boston cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate TPS for more than 5,000 Ethiopians. The ruling came after the same Supreme Court decision that affected the Somalia case.
Somalia continues to face armed conflict and attacks by al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant organization that has waged an insurgency against the Somali government for nearly two decades.
For Somali TPS holders, however, USCIS now lists the country’s designation as terminated effective Aug. 14.
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About Mshale Staff
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