Ethiopian activists protesting outside the White House in Washington in 2021 against what they claimed was US support for the Tigray People's Liberation Front. AFP
The US Department of Homeland Security is ending Temporary Protected Status for citizens of Ethiopia, a government notice on Friday said, as President Donald Trump’s administration continues its crackdown on legal and illegal immigration.
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, provides protection from deportation as well as the ability to work in the US to citizens of countries experiencing conflict or other crises.
A US Citizenship and Immigration Services representative said in a statement that TPS designations “are time-limited and were never meant to be a ticket to permanent residency”.
“Conditions in Ethiopia no longer pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals,” the representative said. “Since the situation no longer meets the statutory requirements for a TPS designation, [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem is terminating this designation to restore integrity in our immigration system.”
Ethiopian citizens with no other lawful basis for remaining in the US have 60 days to voluntarily depart, the statement from USCIS said, adding that those registering to depart using the Customs and Border Protection mobile app would receive a free plane ticket and $1,000 “exit bonus”.
After February 13 next year, the Department of Homeland Security “may arrest and deport any Ethiopian citizen without status”.
Ethiopia was dragged into civil war in 2020, as government forces faced off against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in the northern region. The conflict created a severe human rights crisis, with an intense famine in the Tigray region occurring along with widespread extrajudicial killings and rape.
The conflict ended in 2023. Estimates vary, but according to the Council on Foreign Relations, up to 600,000 people were killed and millions displaced.
Under former president Joe Biden, the TPS programme was extended to cover about 600,000 Venezuelans and 521,000 Haitians. Ms Noem reversed the extensions in February, saying they were no longer justified.
Afghanistan dropped off the TPS list this year. President Trump has made controlling immigration a central plank of his second White House term. Cancelling TPS protections is a boost to the administration’s campaign to deport millions of people.
The cancellations have been challenged in court.
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