Federal Judge Approves End of Temporary Protected Status for Nearly 4,000 Burmese Nationals

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) building in Washington on March 3, 2020. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty ImagesA federal judge on Friday permitted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end temporary protected status (TPS) for nearly 4,000 people from Burma, also known as Myanmar, ending their protection from deportation and authorization to work in the United States.U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois approved the action after the Supreme Court ruled in June in Mullin v. Doe, which held that the TPS statute generally bars courts from reviewing non-constitutional challenges to DHS decisions to end TPS designations.The Burma TPS designation, granted for the first time in 2021 after a military coup and later extended, had been originally set to expire in January. Court orders had maintained the protections, while a class-action lawsuit challenged the termination.Those protections are no longer in effect, and employment authorization documents issued under the Burma TPS category are no longer valid.The lawsuit contended that the November 2025 termination notice failed to account for conditions on the ground in the country as dictated by statute and was just one aspect of an overarching campaign of ending TPS designations.“I am devastated by the court’s ruling and terrified of what will happen if I’m forced to return to Burma,” one of the plaintiffs stated in a statement released by the International Refugee Assistance Project, which represents the class of impacted refugees along with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Law Offices of June J. Htun.Many people affected by the rule change have lived and worked in the United States since fleeing Burma following a coup in 2021. Some have raised U.S. citizen children while armed conflict continued in their home country.In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, plaintiffs made novel claims, including questions regarding the secretary’s authority and allegations of discrimination. Kennelly allowed the case to proceed on the discrimination claim, while also permitting the termination to go into effect.In a separate case Friday, U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris in Massachusetts ruled that DHS can eliminate TPS for people from South Sudan.“The Supreme Court rejected materially identical challenges … and Plaintiffs have no liberty or property interests left other than those provided by statute or regulation based on their individual circumstances through other statutory provisions,” Saris wrote in the order, adding that their “newly proposed claims would be futile.”When then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of TPS for Burma in November 2025, which was first set to go into effect Jan. 26, 2026, she underscored that conditions in the country had improved.“This decision restores TPS to its original status as temporary,” Noem said.“The situation in Burma has improved enough that it is safe for Burmese citizens to return home, so we are terminating the Temporary Protected Status.“Burma has made notable progress in governance and stability, including the end of its state of emergency, plans for free and fair elections, successful ceasefire agreements, and improved local governance contributing to enhanced public service delivery and national reconciliation.”