MIAMI (AP) — The reach of the Supreme Court's decision allowing President Donald Trump's administration to end temporary legal protections for Haitian and Syrian immigrants may extend to many other countries.
Thursday´s decision directly applies to about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, but may be a sign of what´s in store for nearly 1.3 million people from 17 countries on Temporary Protected Status. Many have lived and worked in the United States
for decades and have American children.
The decision exposes TPS holders from Haiti and Syria to potential detention and deportation. It could also pave the way for hundreds of thousands of other beneficiaries with pending asylum claims or other immigration relief to be forced to leave the country.
TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife. When Trump took office, Venezuelans comprised the largest group of beneficiaries, followed by Haitians and Salvadorans.
TPS protections are available only to people who have been continuously present in the U.S. since the date of designation. The Department of Homeland Security can extend it in increments of up to 18 months.
The Trump administration has argued that immigrants were poorly vetted after former President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration dramatically expanded the designation, and says countries are safe for return. Trump's government has ended TPS for about 1 million people from 13 countries, including about 650,000 from Venezuela and 50,000 from Honduras. Decisions are looming for about 200,000 Salvadorans and 100,000 Ukrainians whose protections expire soon.
Other countries with smaller numbers include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.
People of all nationalities whose TPS was ended by the Trump administration have filed dozens of lawsuits. Many of these cases are still ongoing, and judges will closely examine the Supreme Court’s decision.
The government argued that DHS, not judges, had sole authority to end the protections. The court’s 6-3 conservative majority agreed, paving the way to end protections for Haitians and Syrians.
“The decision is definitely bad news,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Miñana Family Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the attorneys who represented Syrians. "The implication of this is that at least most of the claims that have been litigated to challenge this administration’s sort of illegal war on TPS are now foreclosed.”
Immigration lawyers maintain that both countries are in crisis and that people cannot return safely. They asserted that the administration neither assessed conditions in those countries nor consulted other government agencies, as required by law.
Supreme Court decisions generally take effect 32 days after being announced, said Emi MacLean, a senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which represents Venezuelans, Haitians, Hondurans, Nicaraguans and Nepali TPS holders.
With its decision, the Supreme Court is sending the case back to the lower courts to implement the ruling, and that is not expected to be before July 27, according to MacLean and other attorneys. In the meantime, they said, Haitians and Syrian TPS holders could continue working.
“In 32 days, everyone from Haiti and from Syria who held their employment authorization through TPS will most likely lose that authorization," Arulanantham said.
Lawyers and activists are urging individuals with TPS to seek other avenues to remain in the country. They may include asylum or employment-based visas, although the government has also made those options increasingly difficult.
Many may have to choose between voluntarily returning to their home country or facing deportation proceedings. They could lose their jobs and be separated from their U.S.-born children.
Each beneficiary would return to the immigration status they had before receiving TPS, unless that status has expired or the person has successfully acquired a different status, for example, as an asylee.
Advocates are also urging Congress to allow TPS holders to remain in the country.
“We also call on Congress to immediately restore these vital humanitarian protections that the TPS program represents for the sake of our clients and TPS holders, their families, and all of our communities,” said Melissa Keenan, an attorney who represents Syrian TPS holders.
Advocates and attorneys representing TPS beneficiaries from Haiti and Syria claim that while protections are intended to be temporary, conditions in the countries have not yet improved to allow these individuals to return safely.
The law requires that the DHS secretary consult with other government agencies before designating a country for TPS. Although these other agencies are not specified, these consultations could involve the Department of State, the National Security Council and the Department of Justice.
TPS beneficiaries from Haiti and Syria claim that other agencies were not consulted and that the decision was premeditated without considering conditions in those countries.
Haitians were first granted TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake, with extensions given as gang violence displaced more than a million people, according to court documents.
Syrians were first granted TPS in 2012 during a civil war that lasted decades until the fall of the national government in late 2024.
