The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) plan to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudan. This decision, issued on Tuesday, pauses the termination that was slated for January 6.

This halt affects approximately 232 South Sudanese nationals who currently reside in the U.S. under TPS, as well as around 73 others with pending applications. The DHS’s original termination would have left these individuals facing potential deportation, according to court records.

The legal action, initiated by African Communities Together and several South Sudanese nationals with TPS, contends that revoking this status would immediately leave hundreds without lawful residency, putting them at risk of deportation and possible harm if they were forced to return to South Sudan.

Judge Angel Kelley, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021, ruled that the matter involves “legally complex” issues with “serious, long-term consequences,” including the potential for severe harm.

Notably, some South Sudanese officials, such as Deputy Chief of Defense Forces Lt. Gen. Thoi Chany Reat, have faced accusations of severe human rights abuses from a United Nations panel. (AP Photo/Samir Bol)

South Sudanese nationals with TPS or pending applications will retain lawful status, work authorization and protection from deportation and detention.

South Sudan, a largely Christian country, gained independence in 2011 after a decades-long civil war with Sudan, a predominately Muslim country, making it the world’s youngest nation.

Fighting began in December 2013 between government forces, the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF), and opposition forces, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and nearly 2 million displacements, according to a report from the Global Data Institute’s Displacement Tracking Matrix.

A recent clash between the two forces in February has put civilians, particularly women and children, at extreme risk, with reports of conflict-related sexual violence, killings and abductions, according to the report.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, left, shakes hands with Pagan Amum Okiech, leader of the Real-SPLM group, during the launch of high-level peace talks for South Sudan in Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday, May 9, 2024.  (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Neighboring Sudan is also experiencing displacement and human rights concerns spurred by the 2023 split of an alliance between the government-led Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

About 12 million people have been driven out of their homes, with RSF forces accused of preventing access to aid workers and humanitarian workers and of committing “summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” according to the U.N. Human Rights Office.

Drone strikes allegedly ordered by the RSF in early December struck a kindergarten and nearby hospital in Sudan’s South Kordofan region, killing 114 people, including 63 children.

Young displaced boys bathe in a reservoir inside one of the camps for people who fled violence in the capital Juba, South Sudan, on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014. (AP/Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin)

An administrative stay does not reflect a judgment on the merits of the case. DHS must file its opposition by Jan. 9, and the plaintiffs must file their reply by Jan. 13.

DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.