The United States government has announced it plans to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for citizens of Myanmar, a country in southeast Asia currently facing an ongoing civil war.

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a draft notice in the Federal Register, to be formally published the following day, revealing the change.

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It credited Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with making the determination to end the programme.

“After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary determined that Burma [Myanmar] no longer continues to meet the conditions for designation for Temporary Protected Status,” the document said.

“The Secretary, therefore, is terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation of Burma as required by statute.”

Some 3,969 citizens of Myanmar currently enjoy Temporary Protected Status, a legal immigration pathway for foreign nationals whose home country is unsafe to return to.

The status grants successful applicants already in the US the ability to legally stay and work in the country. Another 236 applications from Myanmar were pending as of November 10.

But the administration of President Donald Trump has sought to reduce immigration into the US.

It has therefore attempted to rescind Temporary Protected Status for several groups, including citizens of Haiti, Afghanistan, Venezuela and other countries facing instability.

Just last Friday, Trump posted on his platform Truth Social that he was “hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota”, accusing gangs of Somali nationals of “terrorizing” the state.

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“Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER,” Trump wrote.

Legal experts, however, question whether a president can revoke Temporary Protected Status from a specific group in a specific state. Some have accused Trump of attempting to intimidate immigrants, in order to force them to leave the country.

Under Trump, the federal government has also restricted its cap on refugee admissions to 7,500, a historic low.

In addition, the Trump administration has sought to strip hundreds of thousands of immigrants of another temporary protection called “humanitarian parole”. That programme allows immigrants to come into the country on a short-term basis due to emergency situations or humanitarian concerns.

Several of those efforts face ongoing legal challenges. So far, however, the Supreme Court has largely sided with the Trump administration.

In an unsigned May 30 decision, for instance, a majority on the high court lifted a lower court’s ruling that had barred the Department of Homeland Security from ending humanitarian parole for nearly 500,000 Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Haitians.

Two left-leaning justices — Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor — issued a dissent, warning that removing the pause would cause great harm to US immigrants while the legal challenge proceeds.

The decision, Brown Jackson wrote, “undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending”.

Unrest in Myanmar

In the case of Myanmar, the Department of State has issued a level-four travel advisory — the highest tier — warning against transit through the country.

It cited the risk of “armed conflict, the potential for civil unrest, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, poor health infrastructure, land mines and unexploded ordnance, crime, and wrongful detentions”.

In February 2021, the military toppled the government of President Aung San Suu Kyi, and the country has grappled with civil war ever since, marking the latest chapter in a nearly eight decades of internal unrest.

The military leadership is locked in a fight with members of the exiled government as well as armed ethnic groups and civilian opposition groups.

It has led a campaign of heavy air strikes, some of which reportedly targeted schools and hospitals. Both rebels and soldiers have been accused of human rights abuses, including torture.

The United Nations estimates the long-running conflict has created nearly 1,585,298 asylum seekers and refugees as of October, with many seeking protection in nearby countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia.

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Members of the persecuted Rohingya ethnic group have been rendered stateless amid the fighting.

Citizens from Myanmar were initially given Temporary Protected Status in the US under former President Joe Biden in May 2021.

The administration then extended the protection designation twice: once in September 2022 and again in May 2024. The latest 18-month extension was slated to expire on Tuesday, November 25.

The termination of the Temporary Protected Status will take effect 60 days after the Federal Register notice is officially published.

In its statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Secretary Noem had deemed conditions in the country sufficiently safe for its citizens to return.

“Burma [Myanmar] continues to face humanitarian challenges due in part to continued military operations against armed resistance and the need for humanitarian assistance,” the notice said.

“There have, however, been improvements in Burma’s governance and stability at the national and local levels.”

The notice added that allowing Myanmar citizens to stay ran “contrary to the U.S. national interest”.

In March, the Department of Homeland Security told Congress that 9,590 Myanmar citizens were eligible for the protection, but had yet to apply.

Just this month, another boat sank off the Myanmar shore, as Rohingya refugees attempted to flee to safety. At least 27 people were confirmed dead, with many more missing.