US judge blocks end of deportation protections for Myanmar nationals

(MENAFN) A US federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from ending deportation protections for more than 3,600 Myanmar migrants in the country.

Judge Matthew Kennelly, sitting in Illinois, wrote in a 57-page ruling that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Myanmar nationals did not properly consider ongoing violence and instability in the country.

While Noem argued that conditions in Myanmar had improved enough to allow deportations, other officials noted “violence against civilians including airstrikes, shelling, and razing of villages, human trafficking, and dire humanitarian need.”

Kennelly suggested the termination was likely motivated by a broader effort to reduce immigration rather than a true assessment of conditions in Myanmar. Since the 2021 coup, the country has faced severe ethnic conflict, leaving thousands dead and over 3.5 million people displaced.

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