U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to end protections for Haitian, Syrian immigrants could have broader impact

Published 26 June 2026 · politics

The reach of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to end temporary legal protections for Haitian and Syrian immigrants may extend

The reach of the U.S. 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 (June 25, 2026) 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.

President 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 Centre 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.