The brief, filed in African Communities Together v. Noem, asks the court to block DHS from ending TPS for Somalia, which the agency announced in January 2026 would be cancelled effective March 17, 2026, according to the California attorney general's office.
"Somali TPS holders are not burdens to the states; they are valued neighbors, coworkers, teachers, entrepreneurs, caregivers, and parents. President Trump has repeatedly vilified Somali immigrants, and nothing could be further from the truth," Bonta said in a statement.
"The truth is Somali immigrants make vital contributions to California and stripping them of legal status would harm our state's residents, economies, public health, and safety," Bonta said. "To revoke these long-standing protections would force families who have established their lives in the U.S. to return to unstable and dangerous conditions."
Congress established TPS in 1990 to allow nationals of designated countries to remain in the United States because of armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary conditions, the release said. Somalia's designation has been repeatedly extended for more than three decades.
The coalition argues the termination is unlawful and will cause irreparable harm by stripping work authorization, exposing holders to deportation, and separating families that include U.S. citizen children. The brief also contends the move will harm state economies, raise healthcare costs, and impede crime reporting by Somali TPS holders, according to the attorney general's office.
The attorney general's office said the U.S. State Department continues to classify Somalia as a "Level 4: Do Not Travel" country, its highest risk designation, and argued DHS has offered no evidence that conditions there have improved.
The release also describes a December 2025 DHS action it calls "Operation Metro Surge," which the attorney general's office characterizes as "the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history" and says 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." Those characterizations are the coalition's; the release does not cite court findings.
California has historically allocated $10 million annually to provide legal services to TPS holders, the release said, and Bonta earlier this week co-led a separate amicus brief opposing the termination of TPS for Haitians and Syrians.
Bonta co-led Thursday's filing with the attorneys general of Minnesota, Massachusetts, and New York. They were joined by the attorneys general of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.