The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) strongly opposes the Administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ethiopia, effective February 13, 2026. This termination puts thousands of Ethiopian nationals at risk of deportation and refoulement to a country beset by armed conflict, climate shocks, and regional instability.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asserted that its review “determined the situation in Ethiopia no longer meets the criteria for an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals.” This claim stands in direct contradiction to the White House’s own actions earlier this year when it extended for an additional year the national emergency in Ethiopia pursuant to Executive Order 14046. This emergency designation was first issued in 2021 under the previous administration. This extension reflects a recognition by the Administration of grave and destabilizing conditions in Ethiopia.
These contradictions are starkly reflected in the realities facing civilians across Ethiopia. Nearly three million people remain displaced in the country as armed conflict continues to flare across multiple regions. In the termination, DHS cited peace agreements in Tigray and Oromia. However, this ignores ongoing and renewed violence both within and outside those regions. In October 2025, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than 288,000 people were newly displaced across the Oromia and Somali regions due to renewed hostilities.
Although the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) brought an official end to active hostilities in Tigray three years ago, invoking a fragile and incomplete agreement to assess safety for return misrepresents conditions on the ground. In November 2025, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) highlighted that “populations in the Tigray region continue to endure war crimes and crimes against humanity despite a peace agreement” and further emphasized that populations across Ethiopia “continue to be at risk of possible atrocities.” Moreover, international actors have recently warned of a potential return to catastrophe in Tigray, driven by escalating tensions both internally and between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The Administration contends that other extraordinary and temporary conditions, such as food insecurity and disease outbreaks, show “signs of improvement,” and therefore that safe return is possible. In contrast, on April 22, 2025, the World Food Program warned that over ten million people are facing hunger and malnutrition across Ethiopia due to ongoing conflict, regional instability, displacement, drought, and economic shock. In August 2025, the World Health Organization reported that child wasting surpassed the 15 percent emergency threshold in the Somali, Oromia, Tigray, and Afar regions.
Stripping legal status from immigrant community members across the United States and forcing them to return to countries where their lives and safety are at risk not only undermines U.S. humanitarian and foreign policy commitments. USCRI calls on the Administration to immediately reverse this termination and reiterates its call on both Congress and the Administration to pursue all available avenues to ensure TPS beneficiaries are not returned to life-threatening conditions. USCRI stands with all TPS holders, their families, and the communities that welcome them, and we will continue advocating for policies that reflect our nation’s values and humanitarian obligations.
USCRI, founded in 1911, is a non-governmental, not-for-profit international organization committed to working on behalf of refugees and immigrants and their transition to a dignified life.
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