The United States Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump can end a Barack Obama-era Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 360,000 Haitians and Syrians amid aggressive anti-immigration push in the North American country.
Haitians and Syrians were both been granted protected statuses in 2010 and 2012, respectively, by former President Obama, which allowed individuals from the countries to temporarily live and work in the United States of America for 18 months, subject to extensions.
The most recent extensions of Temporary Protected Status were approved during the administration of former President Joe Biden, extending protections for Syrians through September 2025 and for Haitians through February 2026.
However, in an impromptu move in November last year, the then-Secretary of Department of Homeland, Security Kristi Noem, announced that the Trump administration would rescind the protections, citing that both Haiti and Syria no longer meet the criteria for the programme.
With the 355,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians affected by the decision, several lawsuits were filed against the Trump administration, challenging the announcement.
Lower court judges subsequently postponed the termination of the programme, prompting the government to approach the Supreme Court.
In a 6-3 majority ruling on Thursday, the apex court sided with the Trump administration and ordered that the government could proceed to strip the legal status of thousands of Haitians and Syrians in the United States of America, citing that judges cannot review the decision of the White House on TPS.
“In these cases, we consider whether respondents, who challenge the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for aliens from Syria and Haiti, are entitled to orders postponing the terminations during litigation. We hold that they are not.
“The TPS statute plainly bars consideration of respondents’ non-constitutional claims. It allows “no judicial review of any determination with respect to the termination” of a TPS designation,” the majority wrote in their opinion.
The judgment means that more than 360,000 Haitians and Syrians could now face mass deportation from the United States of America.
