The Supreme Court's recent 6-3 ruling in Mullin v. Doe, which permits the Department of Homeland Security to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian nationals, could lead to dire consequences in the United States, according to immigration attorney Allen Orr. Orr argued on MS NOW that the decision could result in people dying and suffering due to its impact on essential industries.
Orr, who represented Haitian nationals, described the ruling as "very devastating" for Americans. He suggested that the removal of TPS recipients, many of whom work in home healthcare, could leave significant job vacancies and disrupt services. "There are going to be a lot of jobs that are left open, and a lot of people in the home healthcare industry who are not going to receive any service, because their providers are going to be removed from the United States," Orr stated. "There are a lot of people who are going to die and suffer because of this."
He also criticized the court for disregarding past comments made by the Trump administration regarding Haitian migrants and for adhering strictly to the label of TPS as "temporary." Orr argued that the term should not be prioritized over people's well-being, stating, "The concept that people keep repeating — that the problem is its 'temporary' status, and it’s been longer than temporary — well, change the word. Don’t put people’s lives in danger because you feel that label arbitrarily moves something."
According to Orr, over a million TPS individuals are legally present and working in the U.S., contributing to the economy. He emphasized that these individuals have undergone vetting and do not pose the same concerns as undocumented immigrants. "They’re supporting our economy. And when you remove those individuals, you draw down all of those work areas. All those jobs they’re doing, all of these companies that were relying on these TPS workers to work tomorrow are going to have to make decisions about them leaving today."
A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, called the ruling a "win for the administration," asserting that "temporary protected status is, by definition, temporary." The spokesperson added that the Trump Administration "continues to lawfully end the egregious abuses to our immigration system that have hurt Americans for years."
President Donald Trump first attempted to end TPS for Haitians, initially granted after the 2010 earthquake, in 2017. Federal legal challenges prolonged the status through his term. In his written opinion, Justice Samuel Alito suggested that a racial motivation for the change was unlikely, noting that the respondents themselves indicated the Trump administration might oppose TPS as a matter of policy rather than targeting a specific group.