First Circuit Clears Way for Trump to End South Sudan and Ethiopia TPS After Supreme Court Ruling Shuts Down Legal Challenge

The Trump administration scored another major immigration victory on Tuesday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit cleared the way for the Department of Homeland Security to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudan and Ethiopia.

In a decisive ruling, the First Circuit reversed a lower court order that had temporarily blocked the administration from ending the designation, concluding that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Doe foreclosed the legal arguments relied upon by the plaintiffs.

The appeals court held that the Supreme Court’s June 25 ruling made clear that the TPS statute bars judicial review of all non-constitutional challenges to the Homeland Security Secretary’s decisions regarding TPS designations and terminations.

“Previously, upon the government’s motion… we denied an administrative stay of the district court’s order postponing the termination of Temporary Protected Status (‘TPS’) for South Sudan,” the First Circuit wrote. “Upon further briefing, we now reverse the postponement order in light of Mullin v. Doe.”

The court explained that the Supreme Court held that “the TPS statute’s judicial-review bar applies to all non-constitutional claims” challenging the Secretary’s TPS determinations, and those were the only claims supporting the district court’s injunction.

As a result, the First Circuit granted the Trump administration’s request for summary reversal, denied its request for a stay as moot, and sent the case back to the district court for proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision.

This ruling dismantles another activist-judge roadblock erected against the lawful termination of a TPS designation that DHS determined no longer met statutory conditions.

Former Secretary Kristi Noem and current Secretary Markwayne Mullin had moved to end South Sudan’s designation after a review of country conditions, with termination originally set for January 5, 2026.

A single district judge in Massachusetts, Clinton appointee Patti B. Saris, had previously stayed that termination at the request of African Communities Together and several anonymous “Doe” plaintiffs, keeping roughly 200-plus South Sudanese TPS holders shielded from removal despite the administration’s determination.

Just as it did in the South Sudan case, the appeals court reversed a lower court order that had postponed the TPS termination for Ethiopia, concluding that the Supreme Court’s decision in Mullin v. Doe foreclosed the plaintiffs’ legal claims.

The court wrote that it was reversing “the postponement order in light of Mullin v. Doe,” explaining that the Supreme Court held “the TPS statute’s judicial-review bar applies to all non-constitutional claims” challenging the Homeland Security Secretary’s decision to terminate a TPS designation. Those statutory claims were the sole basis for the district court’s injunction.

The immediate effect is that DHS is no longer blocked by this injunction from ending TPS for South Sudan. The case now returns to the district court, where any remaining constitutional claims, if preserved, will be evaluated under the Supreme Court’s decision in Mullin.

— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) July 29, 2026