The United States has ended temporary legal protections for thousands of Ethiopian nationals, ordering them to leave the country within 60 days or face arrest and deportation.<\/p>\n
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the decision on Friday, determining that conditions in Ethiopia \u201cno longer pose a serious threat\u201d to returning nationals despite ongoing violence in parts of the country.<\/p>\n
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The move affects approximately 5,000 refugees who fled armed conflict and is the latest action in the administration\u2019s hardline crackdown to remove legal protections from at least one million people across multiple countries.<\/p>\n
The termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ethiopia takes effect in early February 2026, giving current beneficiaries two months to either leave voluntarily or find another legal basis to remain in the United States. Those who force authorities to arrest them \u201cmay never be allowed to return,\u201d according to a Department of Homeland Security statement.<\/p>\n
The decision comes despite<\/a> the State Department\u2019s own travel advisory for Ethiopia, which urges Americans to \u201creconsider\u201d travel to the country due to \u201csporadic violent conflict, civil unrest, crime, communications disruptions, terrorism and kidnapping\u201d.<\/p>\n The advisory, still in effect, warns that multiple regions remain off-limits and that the US embassy is \u201cunlikely to be able to assist with departure from the country if the security situation deteriorates\u201d.<\/p>\n Federal authorities justified the termination by citing peace agreements signed in recent years, including a 2022 ceasefire in Tigray and a December 2024 deal in Oromia. Analysts have also warned<\/a> of the risk of renewed fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea.<\/p>\n The Federal Register notice acknowledged that \u201csome sporadic and episodic violence occurs\u201d but claimed improvements in healthcare, food security and internal displacement figures demonstrated the country\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n However, the notice also cited national interest concerns, including Ethiopian visa overstay rates that exceed the global average by more than 250 percent and unspecified national security investigations involving some TPS holders.<\/p>\n The Ethiopian termination is part of a broader pattern under President Donald Trump, whose administration has moved to end protections for nationals from Haiti, Venezuela, Somalia, South Sudan and other countries since returning to office.<\/p>\n His administration has dismissed many nations as \u201cThird World\u201d countries, a term largely no longer used given its pejorative impetus for developing nations.<\/p>\n