DHS Ends Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopians

Ethiopian nationals living in the United States will no longer enjoy Temporary Protected Status (TPS), following a decision by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that comes amid the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to strengthen immigration enforcement and rein in temporary protections that officials say can encourage illegal immigration.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Dec. 12 that Noem is terminating Ethiopia’s TPS designation after a review of country conditions found that the statutory requirements for continued protection were no longer met.

TPS is a humanitarian program that allows nationals of designated countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions to remain temporarily in the United States and obtain work authorization.

The Biden administration expanded TPS to cover hundreds of thousands of migrants from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Haiti, and other countries, while the Trump administration has moved to review the protections and roll back some of them, saying the system has been abused and exploited by illegal immigrants.

“Temporary Protected Status designations are time-limited and were never meant to be a ticket to permanent residency,” a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson said in a Dec. 12 statement. “Conditions in Ethiopia no longer pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals. Since the situation no longer meets the statutory requirements for a TPS designation, Secretary Noem is terminating this designation to restore integrity in our immigration system.”

Departure Deadline, Enforcement Warning

Under the decision, Ethiopian nationals who do not have another lawful basis to remain in the United States will have a 60-day transition period to leave voluntarily. The DHS said that after Feb. 13, 2026, Ethiopian nationals without legal status may be subject to arrest and deportation.

The department encouraged affected individuals to use the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s CBP Home mobile app to report their departure. DHS said the self-deportation option includes a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and the potential to pursue legal immigration pathways in the future.

“If an alien forces DHS to arrest and remove them, they may never be allowed to return to the United States,” the department said.

TPS was created by Congress in the 1990s and does not provide a direct path to lawful permanent residency or U.S. citizenship. The designation must be periodically reviewed and renewed by the DHS secretary based on conditions in the recipient country.

Part of Broader TPS Rollback

The termination of Ethiopia’s TPS designation is the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to scale back temporary immigration protections that expanded significantly under the Biden administration.

In recent months, DHS has announced the end of TPS for nationals of Haiti, Burma, South Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela, stating that conditions in the respective countries no longer warrant the special protections and, in some cases, arguing that the program has been overextended and abused.

“We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades,” a DHS spokeswoman said in a Feb. 20 statement announcing that nationals from Haiti would no longer be eligible for such protections. “President Trump and Secretary Noem are returning TPS to its original status: temporary.”

When revoking temporary protections for Haitians, the DHS said the move was part of Trump’s “promise to rescind policies that were magnets for illegal immigration and inconsistent with the law.”

Efforts to revoke TPS for some countries have been challenged in federal court. Judges have temporarily blocked the administration from ending TPS for certain groups, including Syrians and Haitians, finding that the DHS may not have followed required procedures or adequately reviewed country conditions. By contrast, the U.S. Supreme Court in October cleared the way for the administration to revoke TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.

“President Trump is restoring America’s immigration system so that it actually benefits the U.S. citizen and today’s Supreme Court victory is a win for the American people and commonsense,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an Oct. 3 statement.

The TPS rollbacks come amid broader immigration enforcement efforts under Trump’s second term. The DHS said this week that more than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States since January, including about 1.9 million illegal immigrants who voluntarily self-deported and more than 600,000 who were deported.