A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from ending deportation protections for about 200 South Sudanese nationals while a legal challenge proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, a Biden appointee, said the order does not address the underlying merits of the case but is intended to preserve the status quo.
As such, it allows the migrants to remain in the United States until the court can more fully consider the arguments, The Hill reported.
“Because of the serious consequences at stake, both for the Plaintiffs and the Defendants, the Court finds an administrative stay appropriate, as it would ‘minimize harm,’ while allowing the assigned District Court Judge the time this case deserves,” Kelley wrote in her four-page ruling.
The judge said she will issue a new ruling after reviewing written briefs from the parties, which are due by Jan. 13.
Temporary Protected Status allows nationals of designated countries to remain in the United States and obtain work authorization when conditions such as armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances make return unsafe.
South Sudan was first designated for TPS in 2011 after gaining independence. The country has since faced ongoing instability and violence, and the U.S. State Department currently advises Americans to avoid travel there.
Court filings indicate that approximately 232 South Sudanese nationals are currently covered by TPS, The Hill noted further.
President Trump’s second administration has moved to scale back the Temporary Protected Status program by ending TPS designations for several countries. Legal challenges remain pending over changes affecting Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, and Venezuela.
Last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that she had reviewed conditions in South Sudan and determined the country’s TPS designation would be terminated after Jan. 5, the outlet reported.
The decision prompted a lawsuit from individual South Sudanese TPS holders and African Communities Together, which argues that Noem acted unlawfully. The plaintiffs allege the decision was motivated by racial animus against nonwhite immigrants, that required consultations with other federal agencies did not occur, and that the administration lacked sufficient justification for ending the designation, said the report.
Kelley, whose court is in Boston, is expected to consider those claims next month. Her interim order keeps TPS protections in place for now, preventing recipients from becoming subject to deportation as early as next Tuesday, The Hill added.
The plaintiffs urgently appealed to the judge for immediate action, warning that failure to act could result in “irreparable harm, including deadly harm.”
In response, the Trump administration argued against the request, criticizing the plaintiffs for waiting over six weeks after Noem’s announcement before filing the lawsuit. They contended that an administrative stay should only be used to temporarily halt the legal proceedings.
“It should not serve to directly enjoin Executive agency action, which is what Plaintiffs’ requested administrative stay would accomplish,” the Justice Department wrote in court filings Monday.
But Kelley rejected the government’s arguments, writing that its approach could result in imminent deportation for some of the Sudanese migrants.
“Further, if their TPS expires and is eventually restored following a full consideration of the merits, any gap in immigration status for South Sudanese nationals could result in ineligibility for future relief,” Kelley wrote.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal courts lack the authority to review visa revocations in cases involving sham marriages for immigration purposes, affirming that such decisions fall under the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security.
The unanimous ruling clarified that while courts may review initial visa denials, they do not have the authority to intervene after the Department of Homeland Security revokes an approved visa.
The decision highlights DHS’s broad authority in visa matters and could impact immigration enforcement, including President Trump’s plans to overhaul immigration policies and carry out mass deportations.
Judge’s Ruling Exposes Another Massive Democrat Lie While Handing Trump A ‘W’-llllllllllll
For months, Democrats have flatly insisted that illegal immigrants aren’t receiving taxpayer-funded health care through Medicare or Medicaid. They’ve repeated it endlessly, with the media dutifully nodding along. Just two weeks ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson even released a video montage laying it all out—Democrats and their press allies, on camera, swearing up and down that this simply isn’t happening.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins said, “People who are here in the United States illegally have never been eligible for the Obamacare subsidies, for Medicare, or for Medicaid.” Her colleague Jake Tapper also said it wasn’t happening, telling Johnson himself, “So just as a point of fact,” Tapper said, “it’s against the law for non-citizens to get those subsidies.”
Meet the Press host Kristen Welker also claimed it wasn’t happening. “Undocumented immigrants, as you know, are actually ineligible for federal healthcare…Right now, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal healthcare programs,” she said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also said similar things. Gavin Newsom proved them all liars, as Johnson’s video showed.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were singing the same tune, insisting illegal immigrants weren’t getting Medicaid. California Gov. Gavin Newsom blew that talking point to pieces, as Speaker Mike Johnson’s video made painfully clear.
Now a federal judge has dealt Democrats yet another blow—this time from the bench. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled in favor of the Trump administration, allowing it to share location data on illegal immigrants receiving public health insurance benefits with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, beginning in January:
Well, gosh. How is it possible that President Trump can share Medicaid info with ICE after Dems have sworn time and time again that illegal aliens aren’t getting Medicaid?
Gee, how can President Trump share Medicaid data with ICE when Democrats have sworn up and down that illegal immigrants aren’t getting Medicaid?
Chhabria wrote in the seven-page order: “The sharing of such information is clearly authorized by law, and the agencies have adequately explained their decisions.”
Democrat-run states fought the data sharing tooth and nail—and of course they did—which is exactly why the case dragged its way through the courts, with California joined by 21 other blue states running interference.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump administration back in July in a last-ditch effort to block the use of Medicaid data to identify and locate illegal immigrants. A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice even claimed that illegal immigrants enrolled in the state’s health care system under the belief their information would be used only for medical purposes.
“The Trump Administration’s effort to use Medicaid data for immigration enforcement is a violation of their trust and will lead to fewer people seeking vital healthcare,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
If this decision results in a decrease in undocumented individuals relying on taxpayer funds for healthcare — healthcare that Democrats claimed they weren’t receiving initially — then that’s a very good thing.
Politico even acknowledges that individuals who are in the country illegally do not qualify for federal Medicaid programs; however, states like California, Illinois, Colorado, New York, Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota permit Medicaid enrollment regardless of immigration status.
The ruling restricts data sharing concerning people in the U.S. illegally and may encompass details such as citizenship, immigration status, residence address, phone number, date of birth, and Medicaid identification number. Additionally, it forbids the collection of information from other immigrants utilizing Medicaid and prevents HHS and ICE from sharing any “potentially sensitive medical information.”
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the ruling is a “victory for the rule of law and American taxpayers,” and she’s exactly right. Next: Let’s start seeing the guilty pay the price. Wait…that seems to be happening.