Supreme Court permits Trump administration to end TPS for Haitian and Syrian migrants

The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision allowing the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitian and 6,100 Syrian migrants who have lived in the United States for years. The ruling overturns lower-court orders that had blocked the administration’s effort to end the protections.

TPS, granted when a recipient’s home country cannot safely receive them because of war or natural disaster, permits holders to live and work in the U.S. for up to 18 months with extensions, and shields them from removal based on immigration status. The program was first extended to Haitians after the 2010 earthquake and to Syrians after the 2012 civil war.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the statute governing TPS limits judicial review of the government’s decisions and found no evidence that the administration’s actions were racially discriminatory under the Fifth Amendment. The three liberal justices dissented. Justice Elena Kagan said the decision appeared racially motivated, stating, "The statements fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the President's resolve to remove Haitians from this country."

The Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel, James Percival, welcomed the decision, noting that the “T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY” and calling it “a win for the rule of law and common sense.”

In a separate case decided the same day, the Court held that migrants intercepted at the U.S.–Mexico border are not eligible to apply for asylum until they have physically entered U.S. territory. Justice Alito described the issue as “straightforward,” while Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the ruling would likely lead to more deaths and illegal crossings.

Advocacy groups warned that ending TPS could cause family separations, economic disruption in local communities, and force return of individuals to regions facing violence and humanitarian crises.