A federal judge has decided the Trump administration can go ahead with cancelling Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which provides humanitarian protections to immigrants, for roughly 5,000 Ethiopians living in the US.

“Those with terminated TPS are in our nation ILLEGALLY,” the homeland security department posted on X after the ruling. “They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED.”

US District Judge Brian Murphy’s decision came after the Supreme Court in June ended similar protections for thousands from Haiti and Syria.

As part of his larger immigration crackdown, President Donald Trump has sought to cancel the protections for people from more than a dozen countries.

Murphy’s ruling lifted a temporary stay that had blocked the administration from ending TPS for Ethiopians.

Ethiopia marks the final country where the Trump administration has terminated TPS – protections for people who fled their home countries due to extraordinary events, including natural disasters and armed conflict. The status grants those who are ​eligible temporary work authorisations and protection from deportation.

The Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel, James Percival, celebrated the decision on X, posting: “All TPS terminations are in effect!”

Ethiopian nationals who had sued to preserve TPS and the advocacy group African Communities Together expressed disappointment, saying the ruling created fresh dangers.

“The crisis in Ethiopia is still ongoing, and this decision puts the lives of thousands of Ethiopians living in the US at severe risk,” Diana Konaté, the group’s deputy executive director of policy and advocacy, told Reuters.

Murphy dismissed some of the claims in the lawsuit, but is allowing the plaintiffs to continue to litigate whether the cancellation was motivated by racial or national origin animus, which would violate the US Constitution.

Ethiopia was first designated for TPS by then-President Joe Biden’s administration at the end of 2022 following armed conflict in the country, including the Tigray war. At the time, the government estimated more than 20,000 who had been displaced and made their way to the US – living continuously in the country since October 2022 – would qualify for the designation.

Millions in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, live with growing fears of a wider conflict, nearly four years after the end of a devastating two-year war. Fighting and drone strikes have been reported in parts of Tigray in recent weeks.

Tensions have intensified as both the federal government and Tigrayan leaders accuse each other of violating the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which ended the civil war that killed hundreds of thousands.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has recently moved to restore the prewar regional government and dismantle the interim administration appointed by Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy’s government. The federal government, meanwhile, has repeatedly accused Tigrayan leaders of co-operating with neighbouring Eritrea and the Sudanese military.

The renewed confrontation has also raised concerns that Eritrea could become involved, potentially leading to wider regional unrest.

Ethiopia also continues to grapple with armed insurgencies in Oromia and Amhara, the country’s two most-populous regional states.

DHS first announced it was ending TPS for Ethiopians in December, under then-Secretary Kristi Noem, saying conditions in Ethiopia were safe.

It had already ended TPS for several South and Central American countries, including Venezuela and Honduras.