California Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief on April 16 in African Communities Together v. Noem, urging a court to prevent the Department of Homeland Security's termination of Temporary Protected Status for Somali nationals from going into effect. DHS announced in January 2026 that Somalia's TPS designation would be cancelled effective March 17, 2026, ending protections that have been repeatedly extended for more than three decades.
TPS is a humanitarian program established by Congress in 1990 that allows nationals of designated countries to remain in the United States due to ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions in their home countries. The coalition argues the termination is unlawful and was announced without any evidence that dangerous conditions in Somalia have improved. The U.S. State Department continues to classify Somalia as a Level 4: Do Not Travel country, its highest risk designation.
The brief contends that termination would strip Somali TPS holders of work authorization, expose them to deportation, and force families — including U.S. citizen children — to face separation. The attorneys general also argue the move would harm state economies and workforces, raise healthcare costs, and undermine public safety by making TPS holders less likely to report crimes.
The press release states that in December 2025, DHS launched what it called "Operation Metro Surge," which the press release describes as the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history. The coalition alleges the operation resulted in widespread constitutional violations, the arrest and detention of children as young as five years old, and two fatal killings of United States citizens in Minneapolis. The coalition frames the TPS termination as part of the same pattern of enforcement targeting Somali communities.
California has historically allocated $10 million annually to provide legal services to TPS holders. Bonta's office notes that nearly 11 million immigrants live in California.
Bonta co-led the brief alongside the attorneys general of Minnesota, Massachusetts, and New York. The attorneys general of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington also joined.
The filing follows a separate amicus brief Bonta co-led this week opposing the Trump Administration's termination of TPS for Haitians and Syrians.