The Supreme Court of the United States issued a historic ruling this Thursday that authorizes the government of President Donald Trump to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, marking one of the most significant victories for the administration in immigration policy.
According to the agency Associated Press, the court "allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disasters in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation."
Who is at risk of deportation?
The decision, published in the official ruling of the Supreme Court, directly impacts two groups: approximately 350,000 Haitians and 7,000 Syrians who were residing in the United States under TPS protection.
According to Bloomberg, the court "ruled that President Donald Trump has broad powers to terminate the legal protections granted to individuals from countries affected by severe crises."
Both countries are experiencing critical humanitarian situations.
Haiti recorded more than 5,600 deaths due to violence in 2024, with armed gangs controlling nearly 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and almost 1.5 million people internally displaced.
Syria, for its part, remains classified by the U.S. State Department as "Level 4: Do Not Travel."
The cases that reached the supreme court
The ruling addresses the consolidated cases Mullin v. Doe (number 25-1083, concerning Syria) and Trump v. Miot (concerning Haiti), which the Court agreed to review in March 2026 and for which it heard oral arguments on April 29, 2026.
The central legal issue revolved around whether Section 1254a(b)(5)(A) of the immigration code—which prohibits judicial review of “any determination” by the Secretary of Homeland Security regarding TPS—prevented the courts from blocking the cancellation of the program.
During the April arguments, the conservative majority of the court, six to three, showed sympathy for the administration's position that judges cannot challenge the Executive's decisions on this matter.
A legal battle that lasted for months
The Trump administration had attempted to end the TPS for Haiti and Syria in November 2025, but federal courts in New York and Washington D.C. blocked that measure in February 2026.
On March 16, 2026, the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay while it expedited the case.
The ruling on Thursday removes those judicial blocks and clears the way for deportations.
A coalition of 19 state attorneys general and local governments, including New York and Los Angeles County, had asked the court to preserve the program.
In April 2026, the House of Representatives approved the H.R. 1689 bill to restore Haitian TPS for three years, with the support of six dissenting Republicans, but the initiative did not progress in the Senate.
Implications Beyond Haiti and Syria
TPS is a humanitarian program created by Congress through the Immigration Act of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush.
It provides temporary protection against deportation and work permits to nationals from countries affected by armed conflicts, natural disasters, or extraordinary conditions.
Currently, the program protects approximately 1.3 million people from 17 countries.
The ruling this Thursday could set a precedent that affects all those beneficiaries, as it consolidates presidential authority to revoke the status without the possibility of judicial review.
The Ninth Circuit had already enabled, in February 2026, the termination of TPS for more than 60,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans, suggesting that the judicial trend is moving in the same direction as Trump's immigration agenda.
Reuters stated that the Supreme Court grants Trump "great victories in the enforcement of immigration law," and that the judges will still have to decide "significant tests of presidential power in the coming days," which foreshadows more high-impact decisions in the upcoming sessions.
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