Ethiopian Refugees Given 60 Days to Leave U.S. as Protections End
The government has moved to end temporary legal protections for thousands of Ethiopians, ordering them to leave the country within 60 days or face arrest and deportation.
The decision has sparked outrage from immigration rights advocates and experts. The move targets refugees who came to the U.S. fleeing armed conflicts in Ethiopia and had been allowed to stay under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that TPS for Ethiopia will be terminated in early February 2026, giving current beneficiaries a two‑month window to depart voluntarily or find another legal way to remain in the country.
"Temporary Protected Status designations are time-limited and were never meant to be a ticket to permanent residency," said a USCIS spokesperson in a statement. "Conditions in Ethiopia no longer pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals. Since the situation no longer meets the statutory requirements for a TPS designation, Secretary Noem is terminating this designation to restore integrity in our immigration system."
According to Al Jazeera, roughly 5,000 Ethiopian refugees are affected, many of whom escaped violence and instability in regions like Tigray and Oromia. A Department of Homeland Security notice warns that those who force authorities to detain them "may never be permitted to return."
"After Feb. 13, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security may arrest and deport any Ethiopian national without status after their TPS has been terminated. If an alien forces DHS to arrest and remove them, they may never be allowed to return to the United States," the statement said.
Federal officials say conditions in Ethiopia have improved enough to justify ending TPS, pointing to peace agreements, including a 2022 ceasefire in Tigray and a 2024 deal in Oromia. However, the U.S. State Department still urges Americans to reconsider travel to Ethiopia due to unrest and numerous other issues.
Critics argue that the crackdown fits into a broader effort to roll back protections for over one million people from several countries and point to a stark racial double standard.
While Ethiopians fleeing documented armed conflict are losing TPS, the same administration has launched a refugee resettlement program aimed at white South Africans of Afrikaner descent, citing "race‑based discrimination," a claim rejected by the South African government and many Afrikaners themselves.
