Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Jun 25: The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to immediately end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians living in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programme.
The 6-3 decision gives the administration authority to move ahead with cancelling the humanitarian protections while legal challenges continue. The ruling is not a final decision on the broader case but allows the government to proceed with ending the protections.
The TPS programme, created by Congress in 1990, allows immigrants already in the US to remain protected from deportation if their home countries are facing war, natural disasters or other emergency conditions.
The case involved around 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians who challenged the administration’s move, arguing that officials had reached predetermined conclusions and failed to properly consider whether conditions in their countries had improved enough for safe return.
The Trump administration argued that the law governing TPS prevents courts from reviewing decisions made on whether a country’s conditions justify continued protection.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said the legal language was clear and broad, meaning courts could not interfere with such decisions.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court’s three liberal members, dissented, saying the decision could result in immigrants being sent back to dangerous conditions.
The Haitians’ case also raised allegations that the decision was influenced by racial bias. Lawyers representing Haitian immigrants argued that Trump’s past comments about Haitian communities showed racial hostility.
However, Justice Alito said the statements made by Trump and the Department of Homeland Security were not “overtly racial” and could be viewed as policy positions with race-neutral explanations.
Kagan disagreed, saying the President’s comments carried racial undertones and influenced the decision to remove protections for Haitians.
The Trump administration has made ending TPS a key part of its broader immigration agenda since returning to office in 2025. The administration has moved to terminate protections for immigrants from several countries previously designated as unsafe.
The Supreme Court had earlier allowed the administration to proceed with ending TPS protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans.
Immigrant advocacy groups have warned that cancelling TPS on a wider scale could become one of the largest removals of legal status in US history.
Haiti was granted TPS protection after the devastating 2010 earthquake and continues to face political instability, violence and humanitarian challenges. The US State Department currently warns against travel to Haiti due to security risks.
Syrians became eligible for TPS in 2012 following the civil war and the crackdown under former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria also remains under the highest level of US travel warning.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had earlier decided that continuing TPS protections for Haitians and Syrians was not in the national interest.
The affected immigrants, including professionals such as a neuroscientist, software engineer and registered nurse, challenged the decision in court.
The Justice Department argued that judges should not review the government’s decision-making process, while lawyers for the immigrants said courts should ensure officials followed proper procedures and considered actual conditions in the countries concerned.
The Supreme Court’s ruling now allows the administration to proceed with lifting the protections as the legal battle continues.