A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a brief reprieve Tuesday for hundreds of people from South Sudan who are in the U.S. legally with temporary protected status, or TPS.
About 230 South Sudanese migrants living in the U.S. have that status and another 70 or so have pending applications. The federal government sought to end their legal status as of Jan. 5, 2026. Tuesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley extends the status just until she decides whether to stay the order further while the case is being heard.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services designated people from the Republic of South Sudan as eligible for TPS in 2011 due to conflict in the country. After the nation gained independence from Sudan, existing tensions and political instability led to a brutal civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people.
In a notice announcing the termination of TPS status this November, USCIS said a review of conditions in South Sudan determined the country no longer met the requirements for temporary protected status.
“Based on the Department’s review, the Secretary has determined the situation in South Sudan no longer meets the criteria for an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning South Sudanese nationals,” the document said.
“While there is inter/intra-communal violence linked to border disputes, cross-border violence, cyclical and retaliatory attacks, and ethnic polarization, return to full-scale civil war, to-date, has been avoided,” the notice went on, adding that diplomacy between the U.S. and South Sudan’s transitional government indicates a willingness on the part of South Sudan to ensure the “safety and reintegration of its returning nationals.”
Diana Konaté is with the group African Communities Together, which sued the government, along with four unnamed plaintiffs from South Sudan. She said the government’s determination of improved conditions in South Sudan is “not based on fact.”
“Anybody who is even paying any attention to what’s happening in South Sudan knows that South Sudan is not safe for South Sudanese TPS holders to be returned to,” Konaté said. “People within the country are still fleeing certain areas of the country because of armed conflict that’s still going within the country. There’s still a humanitarian crisis going on within the country.”
Many of the South Sudanese nationals currently holding temporary protected status or applying for it have families living in refugee camps, she said.
“And they’ve come here and been able to get a level of safety from that situation,” Konaté said. “They are working, they’re contributing to their communities, they are in school. And all of that would be stripped from them through no fault of their own. They’re just living their lives. People often say that immigrants should come here and do things the right way. Well, these are folks who have done everything the right and whose status is just being stripped from them. And that has real consequences.”
The government has until Jan. 9 to submit arguments opposing Judge Kelley’s emergency postponement of the termination, and the plaintiffs have until Jan. 13 to reply.
“It’s a small battle in the larger fight, but we are happy about it,” Konaté said. “I mean, it gives South Sudanese TPS holders and their families a little bit of breathing room to kind of figure out what comes next.”
In a written statement on Tuesday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin criticized the ruling.
“Yet another lawless and activist order from the federal judiciary who continues to usurp the President’s constitutional authority,” McLaughlin said. “Under the previous administration Temporary Protected Status was abused to allow violent terrorists, criminals, and national security threats into our nation. TPS was never designed to be permanent. With the renewed peace in South Sudan, their demonstrated commitment to ensuring the safe reintegration of returning nationals, and improved diplomatic relations, now is the right time to conclude what was always intended to be a temporary designation.”
