African Communities Together v. Noem: Ethiopia TPS Injunction

The Ethiopia TPS lawsuit, African Communities Together v. Noem, is currently blocking the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopian nationals. A federal judge in Massachusetts postponed the termination in early 2026, and roughly 5,000 Ethiopian TPS holders keep their legal status and work authorization while the case moves forward.¹²

What DHS Did and When

On December 12, 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Ethiopia no longer met the statutory requirements for TPS, concluding that conditions in the country no longer posed a serious threat to the personal safety of returning nationals.³ A Federal Register notice on December 15, 2025, set the termination effective date at February 13, 2026, giving affected people a 60-day transition period to leave the country voluntarily.¹

DHS did not rely on improved country conditions alone. The department cited an 8.27 percent visa overstay rate for Ethiopian B-1/B-2 visa holders compared to a 2.33 percent global average, and stated that a “significant portion” of the Ethiopian TPS population had been under administrative investigation for national security, public safety, or immigration fraud concerns. The Secretary also concluded that continuing the designation was contrary to the national interest.¹

Ethiopia had been designated for TPS in December 2022 based on the Tigray war and its humanitarian aftermath, and DHS extended and redesignated the country in April 2024 through December 12, 2025.⁴

Who Sued and What They Argue

On January 22, 2026, African Communities Together, a national advocacy organization founded by Ethiopian immigrant Amaha Kassa, filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts along with three unnamed Ethiopian TPS holders. The case is docketed as No. 1:26-cv-10278 and was assigned to Judge Brian E. Murphy.⁵⁶

The complaint attacks the termination on two fronts. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, the plaintiffs argue that Secretary Noem failed to consult with appropriate agencies as required by the TPS statute and that her stated reasons for ending the designation were pretextual. They also raise a constitutional claim, alleging the decision was intentionally discriminatory on the basis of race or national origin in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee, driven by what the suit calls “unconstitutional animus against non-white immigrants.”⁵⁷

The government has defended the decision. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole O’Connor argued that conditions in Ethiopia no longer posed a serious threat and that even if political motivations existed, the Secretary had made a “rational determination” based on changed conditions.⁷

What the Court Has Ordered

Two weeks before the termination was set to take effect, Judge Murphy issued a temporary order on January 30, 2026, blocking the termination and keeping TPS protections in place.²

On April 8, 2026, the judge issued a more detailed ruling granting the plaintiffs’ motion to postpone the effective date of the termination pending final resolution of the case. He found that the plaintiffs were “likely to prevail” on their APA claims, and stated they had shown they were likely to demonstrate that Secretary Noem failed to consult with appropriate agencies, that the termination decision was “preordained,” and that the stated reasons were “pretextual.”⁵⁸

What This Means for Ethiopian TPS Holders Now

The court’s order keeps Ethiopian TPS holders in status. USCIS has confirmed that Employment Authorization Documents carrying category codes A-12 or C-19 remain valid and are automatically extended while the litigation continues.⁹ The CLINIC Court Watch project has described the termination as “null and void” under the court order.¹⁰

That protection is tied to the injunction, not to a new DHS decision. If the order is lifted or reversed on appeal, the termination could take effect and the transition period would end.

Why Conditions in Ethiopia Matter to the Case

The plaintiffs’ factual argument is that Ethiopia remains unsafe for returning nationals, and the judge’s early findings suggest that argument has traction. Although the Tigray war formally ended with the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement, many of its terms remain unimplemented. Large portions of Western, Southern, and Northern Tigray remain under the control of Amhara regional forces and Eritrean troops, where human rights abuses including sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and land seizures continue.¹¹

UN estimates put internally displaced people across Ethiopia at 3.3 million as of mid-2025, with more than 760,000 still displaced in Tigray.¹²¹¹¹³

Active hostilities also persist between federal forces and armed groups in the Amhara and Oromia regions, with drone strikes reported against civilian areas. Tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea escalated in early 2026, with Ethiopia accusing Eritrean troops of occupying border territory and observers warning that a new war could be imminent.¹³ Human Rights Watch’s 2026 World Report described ongoing crackdowns on media, civil society, and political dissent, along with large-scale forced evictions in urban areas.¹²

The Supreme Court Case That Could Change Everything

The Ethiopia case sits inside a broader legal fight. Federal courts have issued similar blocking orders for TPS terminations covering South Sudan, Somalia, Haiti, and Burma, and African Communities Together is the lead plaintiff in the South Sudan and Somalia cases as well.¹⁴

The threshold question in all of these cases, whether federal courts can review the government’s decision to end TPS at all, is now before the Supreme Court. On April 29, 2026, the justices heard oral arguments in cases involving TPS revocations for approximately 356,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. Conservative justices signaled agreement with the administration’s position that a provision of the TPS statute bars judicial review, while liberal justices pressed on whether racial animus influenced the terminations.¹⁵¹⁶

A ruling is expected by late June or early July 2026. If the Court holds that TPS termination decisions are unreviewable, the legal foundation for the injunction protecting Ethiopian TPS holders would be significantly weakened. If the Court sides with TPS holders, the win could be narrow, potentially requiring the administration to revisit its termination decisions through a proper process rather than blocking them permanently.¹⁵ Either way, the outcome will shape what happens next in the Ethiopia case, and whether the protections currently in place hold.

1
Federal Register. Termination of the Designation of Ethiopia for Temporary Protected Status
2
USCIS. Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Ethiopia
3
USCIS. DHS Announces the Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia
4
Federal Register. Extension and Redesignation of Ethiopia for Temporary Protected Status
5
Immigration Policy Tracking. DHS Terminates TPS for Ethiopia
6
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Judge Brian E. Murphy
7
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Federal Judge in Boston Blocks Trump Administration Ending Ethiopian TPS
8
Jurist. US Federal Judge Postpones End to Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia
9
USCIS. Update on Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia
10
CLINIC. CLINIC Court Watch Federal Immigration Case Updates
11
Just Security. Ethiopia’s Unfinished Peace in the Tigray Region
12
Human Rights Watch. World Report 2026: Ethiopia
13
Al Jazeera. Fears of Slow Certain Death Stalk Tigray Amid Rumblings of Renewed War
14
USCIS. Temporary Protected Status
15
New York Times. Supreme Court Immigration TPS
16
CNN. Supreme Court TPS Takeaways