WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Supreme Court on Thursday legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.
The 6-3 decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly , a program that protects a total of .
It marked another victory at the high court for Republican President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration. Though the conservative-dominated court has put the brakes on some of Trump鈥檚 immigration policies, it handed him a second win Thursday in a decision for the revival of a policy restricting immigrants seeking asylum.
The court鈥檚 conservative majority found that the law doesn鈥檛 allow courts to question the process that immigration authorities use to revoke the protections.
The opinion from Justice Samuel Alito also brushed aside arguments that Trump’s derogatory comments about Haitians showed the decision was unlawfully tinged by prejudice. He called the statements 鈥渋nsufficient to show that the termination of Haiti鈥檚 TPS designation was based on the race of the Haitian people.鈥�
Justice Elena Kagan forcefully disagreed, calling Trump’s comments 鈥渟o repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print.鈥� Her dissent pointed out that Trump had said Haitians in the U.S. 鈥減robably have AIDS,鈥� and he also amplified false rumors during the 2024 campaign that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating dogs and cats.
Federal authorities deny that prejudice played a role, and argued that TPS was supposed to be temporary but has lasted over a decade in some cases.
James Percival, DHS general counsel, applauded Thursday鈥檚 ruling. He said the program had become 鈥渄e facto amnesty. This is a win for the rule of law and common sense.鈥�
In a Fox 91欧美激情 interview Thursday, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called it 鈥渁 victory 10 years in the making,” saying it allows Haitian migrants to 鈥渇inally鈥� be removed.
Lawyers said Haitian immigrants would be in danger if they are sent back. 鈥淪imply put, the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling will directly result in thousands of innocent people dying violent, needless deaths,鈥� Geoff Pipoly and Andy Tauber said.
They urged the Senate to approve an extension of deportation protections for Haitians that on a rare bipartisan vote in April.
鈥淔amilies are here, kids are going to school, parents are going into work, folks are trying to commute, and it鈥檚 like the Supreme Court just put all those activities on stop and put folks in limbo,鈥� said Viles Dorsainvil, who runs a support center for Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.
People with TPS are also a key part of the workforce in long-term care facilities, an industry group said. 鈥淭his would be a dreadful loss for all seniors in our community,鈥� said Rita Siebenaler, a resident at Goodwin Living, a senior living community in Virginia.
The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court after judges postponed the end of the program for about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. The high court sided with the administration before and allowed the end of the program for people from Venezuela.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, Homeland Security has moved to end the protections, including some that had been in place for more than a decade, for people from 13 countries.
Immigration lawyers said the terminations were made through an improperly fast process, even though countries such as Haiti and Syria remain dangerous. Four Haitian women who were deported from the United States in February were later found beheaded and dumped in a river several months later, lawyers said in court documents.
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, called the ruling 鈥渁 devastating betrayal of Haitian families who have lived, worked, and contributed to this country for years 鈥� only to be cast out based on anti-Black immigration sentiment.鈥�
The United States first granted protections to Haitians in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and extended them multiple times amid ongoing that has displaced more than a million people, according to court documents.
Syrians were first granted protected status in 2012, during that lasted for more than a decade before the fall of President Bashar Assad鈥檚 government in late 2024.
鈥淭oday, many of our community members, they feel lost,鈥� Farrah AlKhorfan of Immigrants Act Now said about Syrian immigrants losing TPS protections. 鈥淭hey are trying to understand 鈥� what this decision means for them and how it will be implemented and how much time they will have to prepare for what comes next.鈥�
to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters, civil strife and other instability. It allows people already in the country to stay with work permits in increments of up to 18 months, but it does not provide a path to citizenship.
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Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this report.
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