Supreme Court allows Trump to end protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can strip protected status from hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants which has allowed them to stay in the US for years.

The 6-3 ruling overturned decisions by federal judges that had blocked the administration from terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,100 from Syria.

TPS is granted to individuals whose home countries are unable to accommodate them, due to war or natural disasters.

In a separate ruling, the court has said that migrants arriving at the border are not entitled to apply for asylum until they set foot on US soil, giving another win to the Trump administration.

TPS recipients can legally live and work in the US for up to 18 months, subject to extensions. During this period, they can not be removed or detained by authorities on the basis of their immigration status.

The US first provided TPS to Haitians after a major earthquake in 2010 and to Syrians after their country descended into civil war in 2012.

Thursday's decision is likely to have implications for TPS holders from other countries too.

In his ruling, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the law governing TPS clearly prevents courts from reviewing government decisions.

Justice Alito also said the Haitian migrants who sued were unlikely to prove that the administration's actions were racially discriminatory and violated US constitution's equal-protection rights under the Fifth Amendment.

The three liberal justices in the top court dissented.

Justice Elena Kagan said that the government's decision to remove these protections were racially motivated.

"The statements fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the President's resolve to remove Haitians from this country," she said.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump amplified false rumours about Haitian immigrants, including that they were abducting and eating house pets.

With this ruling, the court has now cleared the way for the Trump administration to remove legal protections for TPS recipients, meaning they could face deportation.

"Today's decision puts hundreds of thousands of people at risk", said Jill Habig, CEO and Founder of Public Rights Project, which filed amicus briefs on behalf of 47 local governments and leaders, urging the Supreme Court to preserve TPS for Haitian immigrants.

The local fallout of the ruling will result in a community crisis, she said.

"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," Habig said. "The human cost will be felt all across America."

The court backed the Trump administration in another immigration related ruling on Thursday.

In the 6-3 ruling, the court has said the Trump administration can turn away migrants seeking asylum along the US-Mexico border if they have not set foot on US soil.

Under federal law, a migrant who "arrives" in the US may apply for asylum, which the Trump administration had argued ruled out those stopped on the Mexican side of the border.

Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the court on Thursday, calling the case "straightforward".

"In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person 'arrives in' a place . . . before the person enters that place," he said in his opinion.

When this case reached the Supreme Court in March, arguments focused on what it means to arrive in the US.

Vivek Suri, an assistant to the solicitor general, arguing for the Trump administration, told the court: "You can't arrive in the United States while you're still standing in Mexico. That should be the end of this case."

A lawyer for an immigrant advocacy group had argued that asylum seekers arrive in the US when they reach a port of entry.

Justice Sonia Maria Sotomayor, who voted against the ruling, called the consequences of the court's decision "predictable" in her dissent.

"More people will die," she said. "More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not."

The requirement to be physically present in the US to apply for asylum was first introduced in 2016 during the Obama administration.

The policy, called "metering" was put in place to allow border control agents to limit the number of asylum seekers allowed to request protection each day on the grounds that the facilities on the US side of a border crossing area were at capacity.

The court's ruling has allowed Trump, a Republican, to revive the 2016 policy which was rescinded in 2021 under the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden.