- The Supreme Court ended judicial review of non-constitutional claims challenging TPS terminations in a June twenty-five, twenty twenty-six ruling.
- Judge Allison Burroughs rescinded the final stay on August fourteen, immediately terminating protection for Somali nationals.
- Over two thousand Somali nationals face potential deportation and must have their work authorization reverified by employers.
The Supreme Court’s June 25, 2026 ruling cleared the legal path for the Department of Homeland Security to end Somalia’s protection, and a federal judge lifted the last stay blocking the termination on August 14. The decision left Somali nationals dependent on temporary court relief rather than a durable challenge to the government’s underlying determination.
The ruling in Mullin v. Doe held that the TPS statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1254a, bars judicial review of non-constitutional claims challenging a country’s designation or termination. The Court ruled 6–3. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion.
Somalia’s protection ended after Judge Allison Burroughs rescinded the stay she had issued in March. Her order took effect Friday, August 14, immediately ending the protection that had continued while the case moved through the courts.
The decision closed one route for advocates. Other claims remain theoretically available under the Fifth Amendment, including due-process and equal-protection arguments.
A March stay kept the termination from taking effect
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination in a notice published January 14, 2026. The notice, 91 Fed. Reg. 1547, said Somalia’s designation no longer served U.S. interests.
“Temporary means temporary. allowing Somali nationals to remain is contrary to our national interests.”
Noem cited improved security conditions despite continuing conflict with al-Shabaab. Somalia had first received TPS in 1991, after civil war, and every administration had extended or redesignated the protection until the Trump administration moved to end it in January 2026.
The original termination date was March 17, 2026. Four days before that deadline, Burroughs issued an administrative stay in African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al.
The order temporarily protected Somali TPS holders from deportation. It also kept related work authorization in place while the court considered the challenge.
The court’s action created a direct conflict with the administration’s termination decision. DHS argued that the agency’s assessment of country conditions fell outside ordinary judicial review, while advocates used statutory arguments to contest the move.
The Supreme Court narrowed the court’s role
The June ruling changed the balance. Alito wrote that the law “.bars judicial review of non-constitutional claims challenging the designation or termination of a country's TPS.”
That language limited the ability of lower courts to second-guess the Homeland Security Secretary’s determination that conditions had improved. It also weakened the statutory theories that had supported the Somalia stay.
USCIS called the decision “favorable” to DHS. The agency described the relief available to Somalia beneficiaries as limited, linking the temporary extension to the existing court order rather than recognizing a continuing protection on the merits.
DHS General Counsel James Percival characterized earlier judicial stays as examples of “defiance, obstruction, and delay.” He said those orders interfered with “restoring integrity to the immigration system.”
The ruling also affected the legal strategy surrounding other countries. The statutory arguments used to challenge terminations involving Yemen, South Sudan and Burma faced the same barrier created by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1254a.
USCIS extended work permits while the case continued
The agency issued a series of updates as the stay remained in place. Notices dated July 24, 2026, July 29, 2026, August 3, 2026, and August 5, 2026 tied the temporary validity of Somalia TPS employment authorization to the court order.
The updates also referenced the Supreme Court ruling as the controlling precedent. USCIS repeatedly treated the extensions as stopgap measures while litigation continued.
The agency extended employment authorization documents with original expiration dates of March 17, 2023, September 17, 2024, and March 17, 2026. The extensions did not create a new designation.
Employers received separate instructions after the stay ended. USCIS said previously issued EADs were no longer valid and directed employers to “reverify TPS Somalia beneficiaries” immediately.
The agency’s guidance made the change administrative as well as legal. Workers who had relied on the court-ordered extensions no longer held valid employment authorization through Somalia TPS after August 14.
Approximately 1,100 Somali nationals held direct TPS protection in 2026. Another 1,383 applications were pending when the initial termination notice was issued.
Burroughs said the Supreme Court ruling controlled her order
Burroughs lifted the stay on August 14 after applying the new precedent to the Somalia case. She said she recognized “undisguised racial animus” in the administration’s decision but concluded that the Supreme Court ruling bound her.
The judge described herself as “.bound by the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2026 decision in Mullin v. Doe.” The order ended the immediate protection that had survived since March.
In a separate description of the ruling’s effect, Burroughs said she was “bound … to view things through the Mullin prism.” That phrasing captured the practical consequence for the district court: the judge could consider constitutional claims, but could not preserve the protection through the statutory arguments the Supreme Court had rejected.
The case therefore turned on the difference between constitutional and non-constitutional claims. The first category remained open in theory. The second could no longer provide the same basis for blocking the termination.
Advocates are attempting to shift their challenge toward Fifth Amendment due-process and equal-protection claims. Legal experts have described those claims as exceptionally difficult after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Somali families face the end of long-standing protection
The termination affects people who have lived in the United States for decades. Some arrived when Somalia received its initial designation in 1991.
Many have U.S. citizen children and established businesses. Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been one of the principal communities affected.
Amaha Kassa, executive director of African Communities Together, called the termination a “tremendous blow.” He said it delivered Somali families into “a violent crisis” at home.
The end of TPS removes protection from deportation as well as the related employment authorization. It does not erase the separate legal claims advocates are pursuing under the Fifth Amendment.
The administration has framed the termination differently. Noem’s notice said continued protection was contrary to national interests, while Percival argued that earlier court intervention delayed the government’s immigration policies.
The competing positions now face a narrower courtroom. The Supreme Court has made the Secretary’s non-constitutional termination determination largely insulated from review, while the remaining challenge must proceed through constitutional claims.
The August 14 order made the termination effective
USCIS issued an alert on August 14 stating that Somalia’s protection had ended. The agency treated the termination as effective immediately after the stay was lifted.
The development ended more than 30 years of continuous protection for Somali nationals. The March court order had delayed the original March 17 deadline, but it did not replace the government’s termination decision.
The legal sequence explains why the Supreme Court ruling paved the way without directly issuing the termination. DHS made the decision, Burroughs temporarily blocked it, the Supreme Court narrowed the available review, and the judge then lifted the stay.
The remaining litigation will focus on the Fifth Amendment claims. The immediate employment question has already changed: employers must reverify workers whose Somalia TPS documents depended on the court-ordered extension.
