The shield of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has been shattered for Ethiopian nationals in the United States, marking the latest escalation in Washington’s aggressive overhaul of immigration policy.

Announced Friday via a government notice, the directive strips work authorization and deportation safeguards from Ethiopians. For the Horn of Africa, this is not merely a diplomatic shift but an economic tremor; the decision threatens the vital flow of diaspora remittances—funds that often serve as a lifeline for families facing inflation and instability across the region.

The Horn of Africa in the Crosshairs

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem formalized the decision in the Federal Register, stating that her department had reviewed country conditions and consulted with intelligence agencies. She concluded that Ethiopia “no longer continues to meet the conditions” required for the designation.

The TPS program, established in 1991, was designed to offer sanctuary to migrants whose home countries are besieged by natural disasters or armed conflict. However, the Trump administration has argued that these protections were never meant to be permanent solutions.

This move is part of a broader regional pattern that has alarmed analysts in Nairobi. The administration has systematically dismantled protections for nationals from several key African states in recent months:

• Somalia: Protections for Somalis, particularly the large community in Minnesota, were terminated in November.
• South Sudan: Citizens of the world’s youngest nation have also lost their protected status.
• Global Impact: The crackdown extends to Haiti, Myanmar, Syria, and Venezuela.

For Kenya, which hosts refugees from many of these nations and serves as a regional economic hub, the forced return of thousands of migrants to neighboring countries could strain already fragile diplomatic and social ecosystems.

A Hardline Agenda

President Donald Trump has made strict immigration control the cornerstone of his second term. By canceling TPS, the administration removes the legal barrier preventing the deportation of millions. While the White House frames this as a restoration of rule of law, rights groups argue it ignores the on-the-ground reality in these nations.

The legal avenues to challenge these decisions are narrowing. In October, the US Supreme Court cleared the path for the administration to revoke TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans. The court put on hold a federal judge’s ruling that had previously restrained Secretary Noem, effectively greenlighting the current wave of cancellations.

As legal battles continue to play out in American courts, the message from Washington to East Africa is unmistakable: the era of open doors is closing, and the ripple effects will be felt from Minneapolis to Addis Ababa.