Supreme Court rules President can terminate TPS for Haiti and Syria without judicial review
In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that the president has unreviewable authority to end Temporary Protected Status for designated countries, clearing the way for deportations of Haitian and Syrian TPS holders.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the president may terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Syria without court oversight, a decision that could lead to the removal of hundreds of thousands of legal residents. The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alto, said the TPS statute bars judicial review of the president’s and the Department of Homeland Security’s actions in ending the program. The Court rejected a separate claim that the termination was motivated by racial bias.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the dissent, argued that the president’s public statements about Haiti demonstrated discriminatory intent.
"The evidence is there, plain to see in the president's own statements," Kagan wrote.
Legal scholars and former officials criticized the ruling. Former Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson said the decision "comes as close as you can to being racist," while law professors Cesar Garcia Hernandez and Aziz Huq expressed concerns about the Court’s willingness to find no racial discrimination despite the record.
Advocacy groups warned of significant impacts on the Haitian community, noting that about 350,000 Haitian TPS holders, many of whom work in health care, could lose legal status and face deportation. The House of Representatives recently passed legislation to extend TPS for Haitians, but the administration is expected to veto any further action.
The decision also affects roughly 3,800 Syrian TPS recipients. Both countries remain under travel warnings from the State Department due to security and health concerns. The ruling may set a precedent for the remaining TPS designations, including El Salvador, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine, which are up for renewal later this year.
