Biden judge blocking Ethiopian deportations despite SCOTUS ruling clashed with ICE before

A Biden-appointed federal judge on Friday became the second jurist in Massachusetts to block the Trump administration's effort to end Temporary Protected Status for migrant groups, fueling a growing clash over whether lower courts are ignoring a recent Supreme Court ruling that narrowed their authority over such decisions.U.S.

District Judge Brian Murphy of the District of Massachusetts issued an administrative stay in African Communities Together v. Mullin, temporarily preserving TPS protections for Ethiopian nationals while the court considers whether plaintiffs may pursue constitutional claims in light of the Supreme Court's June ruling. In a 6-3 decision in Mullin v.

Doe, the Supreme Court significantly narrowed lower courts' authority to block DHS decisions designating or terminating TPS.Murphy's ruling drew a swift response from DHS General Counsel James Percival, who accused him of "mutiny" against the Supreme Court and revived criticism of the judge's May 2025 order halting a deportation flight to South Sudan. DHS blamed Murphy for leaving ICE officers stranded at a U.

S. military base in Djibouti, where officials said they faced malaria exposure and the threat of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in neighboring Yemen.SUPREME COURT'S LATEST IMMIGRATION RULING WILL CAUSE AMERICANS TO 'DIE AND SUFFER' ATTORNEY WARNS"Remember when that district judge rerouted a plane with child rapists headed for South Sudan?

The judge made ICE land in Djibouti to face Malaria and terrorist rocket attacks from Yemen," Percival wrote on X. "Fun fact: it was the very same Judge Brian Murphy who entered a lawless TPS order today!"Murphy's Friday order comes amid a months-long legal fight over the Trump administration's effort to end Ethiopia's TPS designation.

The litigation began after then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem determined in December 2025 that conditions in Ethiopia no longer justified Temporary Protected Status and announced the designation woul