The United States has formally ended a humanitarian program that granted temporary legal residency and work rights to citizens of Ethiopia residing within its borders. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under Secretary Kristi Noem, announced the termination of Ethiopia’s designation for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), stripping eligible migrants of their authorization to work legally and exposing them to potential deportation. This move aligns with the Trump administration’s intensified focus on immigration enforcement as a cornerstone of its current term.
Established by Congress in 1991, the TPS program offers a reprieve from removal to individuals whose home countries are deemed unsafe due to ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. The designation permits beneficiaries to live and work in the U.S. until the secretary of homeland security determines that the precipitating crises have sufficiently abated. In the case of Ethiopia, Secretary Noem concluded that a recent review of country conditions, conducted in consultation with other federal agencies, warranted the program’s cessation.
This decision represents the latest in a series of similar terminations enacted over recent months, effectively reversing extensions granted earlier this year. The administration has systematically dismantled TPS protections for several nations, including Haiti, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Somalia. The policy shift carries significant legal and human ramifications, with court challenges already mounted against prior terminations. Notably, the Supreme Court intervened in October to permit the revocation of TPS for Venezuelan nationals, highlighting the contentious judicial landscape surrounding these actions.
“After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate US government agencies, the secretary determined that Ethiopia no longer continues to meet the conditions for the designation for Temporary Protected Status,” Secretary Noem stated in the official notice published in the Federal Register. The announcement coincided with a separate DHS directive halting the processing of certain longstanding family reunification parole cases for Cubans and Haitians, further signaling a restrictive overhaul of longstanding humanitarian immigration pathways.
The immediate consequence for Ethiopian TPS holders is a profound destabilization of their lives in America. They must now navigate a precarious legal limbo, seeking alternative immigration relief or facing the prospect of removal to a nation whose stability the U.S. had previously questioned. While the exact number of Ethiopians affected was not disclosed, the scale of the administration’s broader approach is evident in earlier statistics; the prior administration had extended protections to approximately 600,000 Venezuelans and 521,000 Haitians, populations now similarly impacted by termination policies.
Analysts interpret these concerted terminations as operationalizing a broader political agenda. President Trump has consistently championed stringent immigration controls, and the dissolution of TPS designations directly supports his stated campaign objective to execute millions of deportations. The policy underscores a deliberate recalibration of humanitarian protection, prioritizing immigration enforcement over temporary sanctuary. For the Ethiopian community and other affected nationalities, the path forward is fraught with uncertainty, likely to be contested both in the court of public opinion and within the judicial system.