BOSTON — The Obama-appointed federal judge who blocked Trump's travel ban, saved Harvard from his administration three separate times, and ruled against Asian American students suing over race-based admissions has found a new cause: making sure more than a thousand Somali nationals can stay in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued the ruling Friday from her courtroom in Boston, temporarily freezing the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants just days before the designation was set to expire on Tuesday. The timing was not subtle.
"Over one thousand people will face 'a myriad of grave risks,' including detention and deportation, physical violence if removed to Somalia, and forced separation from family members," the ruling said.
"While the stay is in effect, the termination shall be null, void, and of no legal effect," Burroughs wrote. Those with TPS status or pending applications will keep their work authorization and remain shielded from deportation and detention. For now.
Meet the judge
If there is a federal judge in America who has made a second career out of blocking Donald Trump, it is Allison D. Burroughs.
Appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2014, the Middlebury College and Penn Law graduate has assembled what can only be described as a greatest hits album of rulings against the 47th president and his administration:
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- 2017: Blocked Trump's original travel ban
- 2025: Blocked the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard's ability to enroll international students
- 2025: Ruled the Trump administration acted "unconstitutionally" when it froze $2.6 billion in Harvard research funding
- 2025: Blocked the Department of Energy's cap on indirect costs for university grants
And then there's the one that aged the worst: Burroughs is the same judge who rejected the lawsuit Asian American students brought against Harvard's race-based admissions program. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned her decision.
'Temporary means temporary'
The Department of Homeland Security did not take the ruling quietly.
"Temporary means temporary," DHS said in a statement that could not have been more pointed, calling the ruling the latest example of an Obama-appointed judge preventing Trump from "restoring integrity" to the U.S. immigration system.
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"Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law's requirement for Temporary Protected Status," DHS said. "Allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. The Trump administration is putting Americans first."
They have a point about the "temporary" part. Somalia has been on the TPS list since 1991. That is 35 years of "temporary."
The Trump administration moved to terminate the designation last month during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the United States.
Representatives of the plaintiffs said in a statement that even though the order is temporary and "many battles lie ahead," they are "heartened by the interim protection today's order affords all Somali people in the U.S. who have TPS or pending TPS applications."
Burroughs's ruling is an administrative stay, not a final decision. Both sides will now file briefs on the emergency motion. The legal fight is far from over.
But if history is any guide, Allison Burroughs already knows which way she's leaning.
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