Supreme Court Strips Haitians and Syrians of Deportation Protections

M.A. Dworkin

Washington, D.C. - The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote (Mullin v. Doe), cleared the way for the federal government to strip deportation protection from hundreds of thousands of  citizens of Haiti and Syria who fled war and disaster to come to the United States. Under a federal program known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), for Haiti and Syria, which allows foreign citizens to stay in the U.S. when the U.S. government believes that it is not safe for them to return to their homes, the Justices paused rulings by federal courts in Washington, D.C. and New York that had barred the Trump Administration from ending the designations under the program.

The ruling reaches far beyond the two countries. It could expose more than a million immigrants from 17 nations who received protected status after wars, earthquakes, and disasters. The Trump Administration has already moved to rescind protections for people from 13 of the nations.

Haitian natives argued the decision was driven by racism. They pointed to Trump’s own words. During the 2024 campaign, he called Haiti a “shithole country.” He said Haitians “probably have AIDS.”

The decision means that people who have built their lives in the U.S., many for over ten years, after fleeing their own country, can now lose their work permit and become subject to arrest and removal. 

Congress enacted the TPS program in 1990. The program gives the Department of Homeland Security the power to designate a country’s citizens as eligible to remain in the U.S. and work if they cannot return safely to their own country because of a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other “extraordinary and temporary” conditions. TPS recipients can legally live and work in the U.S. for up to 18 months, subject to extensions.

Justice Elena Kagan who dissented stated: “The statements fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the President’s resolve to remove Haitians from the country.”

The Trump Administration welcomed the ruling.

“The T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY, yet many of these designations became de facto amnesty,” James Percival, the general counsel for DHS said on X after the ruling. “This is a win for the rule of law and common sense.”

“Today’s ruling puts hundreds of thousands of people at risk,” said Jill Habig, CEO and Founder of Public Rights Project. ”The local fallout of the ruling will result in a community crisis. Families will be separated, local economies will take a hit and people will be forced back to countries in the grip of violence, instability and humanitarian collapse. The human cost will be felt all across America.”