The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Wednesday enjoined the Trump administration’s removal of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ethiopians in the US, allowing thousands to remain under the designation while the case continues in litigation.

Ethiopia was first designated for TPS in 2022 due to escalating humanitarian concerns in the country. However, in December of last year, then Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Kristi Noem terminated the nation’s TPS designation as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act, stating that “Ethiopia no longer continues to meet the conditions” for TPS.

In January, a nonprofit and several Ethiopian nationals sued Noem, alleging that the DHS decision to allow only 60 days for TPS-holders, applicants, and their family members to “plan for life without TPS” violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and was a “stark departure from past agency practices.”

Determining whether to issue a preliminary injunction, Judge Brian Murphy agreed. Title 5 U.S.C. § 705 authorizes courts to “issue all necessary and appropriate process to postpone the effective date of an agency action or to preserve status or rights pending conclusion of the review proceedings.”

To receive preliminary relief, a moving party must demonstrate that they are likely to succeed on the merits and are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief. Courts then weigh the “balance of equities” and “the public interest” to determine if a preliminary injunction is warranted.

As to the merits, plaintiffs alleged that DHS acted arbitrarily and capriciously, violating 5 U.S.C. § 706. Because Noem failed to consult with other agencies before terminating Ethiopia’s TPS designation—allegedly in violation of the TPS statute—Judge Murphy held that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of this claim.

The judge also held that plaintiffs can likely show that the decision was pretextual and “was preordained and driven by a politically motivated objective to dismantle the TPS program.” Specifically, plaintiffs argued that the termination was part of a larger, discriminatory goal to end TPS designation for non-white immigrants.

Moreover, the court found that plaintiffs will likely to face irreparable harm since they will “lose access to their livelihoods and immediately face arrest and removal to a country where the Government has previously found they face serious risk of harm.”

Finally, Murphy wrote that the public has an interest in making sure that government agencies “follow the law” and that plaintiffs’ interests outweigh those of the defendants. Because agencies’ decisions “govern” people’s “existence and operation[],” the balance of equities and the public interest favor the plaintiffs.

Importantly, the decision does not reverse DHS’s decision but merely postpones the effective date of the termination of Ethiopia’s TPS designation. The order signifies a blow to the Trump administration’s continuing trend of ending protections for certain immigrants. This includes Trump’s recent appeal to the US Supreme Court, asking it to uphold on attempt to end TPS for more than 350,000 Haitians.