Press Release: 4/17/2026

AG Campbell Defends Temporary Protected Status For Immigrants From Somalia

 



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:



4/16/2026



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Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary



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Call Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543



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BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today co-led a coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) unlawful and baseless attempt to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from Somali immigrants.  



The TPS program is a crucial humanitarian lifeline that Congress established in 1990 to protect foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their home country, allowing them to work and build a life in the United States. Today’s amicus brief, filed in African Communities Together v. Mullin, highlights the humanitarian and economic harm that would result from ending TPS protections for Somali immigrants and urges the court to postpone the revocation.  



“The Trump Administration’s baseless attempt to revoke legal status from the Somali TPS community is part of a cruel, targeted pattern, and I will continue to stand up for them and any other immigrant group that this Administration chooses to unlawfully harm,” said AG Campbell. “I urge the Court to preserve legal status for Somali TPS holders who are an integral part of our communities.”  



In November 2025, President Trump posted on social media that he was “hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota...” Since then, President Trump has repeatedly launched racist attacks against Somali immigrants, calling them “garbage” and “stupid people” with “low IQs” “from a crooked country, disgusting country, one of the worst countries in the world.”  



In January 2026, Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security at the time, announced she was terminating Somalia’s TPS designation in part because “permitting Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States would be contrary to the national interest of the United States.” As of January 2026, there were 2,471 Somali nationals in the United States with TPS protections, with another 1,383 individuals with pending TPS applications.  



Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991 by Acting Attorney General William Barr due to “extraordinary and temporary conditions.” Civil war has raged in Somalia for the ensuing 35 years, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, children being forced into combat, extrajudicial killings, sexual and gender-based violence, and other human rights abuses. Given the ongoing violence and suffering, Somalia’s TPS designation has remained in place since 1991.  



To this day, the State Department has issued its highest travel advisory for Somalia (Level 4: Do Not Travel), advising that Americans should not travel to Somalia “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health, kidnapping, piracy, and lack of availability of routine consular services.” 



The coalition argues that revoking Somalia’s TPS designation would present current TPS holders, particularly those with U.S. citizen children, with an impossible choice:   




  • Return to Somalia alone, leaving their children behind;  

  • Take their U.S. citizen children to a dangerous country that the children do not know; or  

  • Stay in the United States without authorization and live with significant fear and uncertainty, knowing they cannot work legally and could be forcibly removed to Somalia at any time.  



The attorneys general explain in their brief that revoking Somalia’s TPS designation would harm their economies, workforces, health care systems, and public safety. The coalition is urging the court to temporarily block this attempted TPS revocation to prevent their states and residents from suffering irreparable harm.  



Joining AG Campbell in filing this brief, which she co-led with the attorneys general of California, Minnesota, and New York, are the attorneys general of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.