Trump immigration agenda faces setback as Obama-appointed judge issues fresh TPS stay
General Counsel James Percival rebuked the order; plaintiffs argue the termination was predetermined
By Elaine Mallon Fox News
Published August 1, 2026 1:47pm EDT
DHS lawyer says public needs to know which judges are in ‘open defiance’ of SCOTUS on immigration
DHS Chief Counsel James Percival said a group of federal district judges —not the judiciary as a whole — is repeatedly blocking deportations and temporary protected status rollbacks despite SCOTUS rulings, calling it 'naked political activism.'
A Massachusetts federal judge has once again blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary protected status (TPS) for Somalia, issuing a new administrative stay after plaintiffs rewrote their lawsuit around constitutional claims just days after a federal appeals court threw out similar stays terminating TPS for Ethiopia and South Sudan.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued the administrative stay Friday after African Communities Together and other plaintiffs filed an amended complaint alleging the Trump administration violated the Fifth Amendment by terminating Somalia's TPS designation based on racial and national-origin discrimination.
The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and emergency motion on Thursday in a renewed bid to keep Somalia's TPS protections alive after the Supreme Court's June ruling in Mullin v. Doe sharply limited lower courts' ability to block TPS terminations.
Burroughs' latest order has intensified growing criticism over whether district judges are using administrative stays to work around higher court rulings. It comes just days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed similar administrative stays issued by U.S. District Judges Brian Murphy and Patti Saris, who had temporarily delayed the Trump administration's TPS terminations for Ethiopia and South Sudan.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-immigration-agenda-faces-setback-obama-appointed-judge-issues-fresh-tps-stay
