WASHINGTON: A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for US President Donald Trump’s administration to end temporary protections from deportation that had allowed hundreds of South Sudanese nationals to live and work in the United States.
US District Judge Patti Saris in Boston rejected a last-ditch effort by immigrant-rights advocates to maintain South Sudan’s Temporary Protected Status designation after the US Supreme Court in June allowed the administration to end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.
The Supreme Court’s ruling, powered by its 6-3 conservative majority, curtailed the ability of lower-court judges to review the US Department of Homeland Security’s efforts under Trump to end TPS for about a dozen countries.
That designation covers people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events, providing eligible migrants temporary protection from deportation and work authorization.
DHS moved in November to terminate TPS for conflict-ridden South Sudan, saying the country no longer met the conditions for the designation, which was first issued in 2011.
