The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can cancel the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants. The decision, a 6-3 ruling, means the administration can remove deportation protections for more than 6,000 Syrians and 350,000 Haitians residing in the United States.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, stated that the TPS statute "plainly bars consideration of respondents’ non-constitutional claims" and "allows ‘no judicial review of any determination . . . with respect to the . . . termination’ of a TPS designation." This means lower courts cannot stay the administration's decisions to end these protections.
The cases originated from lawsuits filed by groups of Syrians and Haitians. They argued that the Trump administration's decision to end TPS was motivated by unlawful racial animus, rather than legitimate geopolitical considerations. Prior to this ruling, lower courts had kept the protections in place while the legal challenges were pending. The Supreme Court building is pictured in Washington.