Supreme Court Strips TPS Protections from 350,000 Haitians and Syrians in 6-3 Ruling

A 6-3 ruling that empties the courts of any check

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on Thursday to allow the Trump administration to strip Temporary Protected Status from roughly 350,000 Haitian nationals and approximately 3,800 Syrians, handing the president unreviewable authority over a humanitarian relief program Congress created in 1990.scotusblog Writing for the conservative majority in Mullin v. Doe, Justice Samuel Alito held that the TPS statute's bar on judicial review is "clear, and its plain meaning is very broad" — effectively shutting the courthouse doors on challenges to how the administration uses its deportation powers.scotusblog The ruling immediately voids the work permits and legal status of those covered, throwing hundreds of thousands of people into jeopardy.cnn

Who gets affected — and how fast

Haiti's TPS designation dates to the devastating 2010 earthquake; Syria's followed Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown on dissidents in 2012.scotusblog Both were repeatedly extended by Republican and Democratic administrations alike until Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem moved to terminate them in 2025, saying neither country still met the statutory standard — a determination the majority ruled courts cannot second-guess.scotusblog Nearly 190,000 Haitian TPS holders were employed in the U.S. as of early 2025, contributing an estimated $5.9 billion to the economy and paying $1.6 billion in federal, state and local taxes, according to the advocacy group FWD.us.cnn A third work in healthcare.npr Because the Trump administration has moved to end TPS for 13 of the 17 designated countries, the ruling's logic could ultimately affect up to 1.3 million people — what one attorney called "the largest dedocumentization event of people in US history."cnn

The dissent — and the racial discrimination claim

Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote that the majority condemned TPS beneficiaries to "devastating, and indeed life-threatening, injury" by denying them any time to continue litigating.scotusblog Kagan quoted Trump's public remarks about Haitians — including his debunked claim that they were eating neighbors' pets, his descriptions of Haiti as a "s***hole country" and his assertion they were "poisoning the blood of the country" — and said evidence that race drove the decision was "plain to see."npr Alito dismissed those statements as expressing policy views rather than racial animus, a conclusion that drew fierce pushback from legal scholars and civil rights advocates.scotusblog +1

Communities and businesses brace for fallout

In Springfield, Ohio — ground zero of Trump's 2024 campaign attacks on Haitian immigrants — community leaders and employers warned the ruling would devastate a population that had reversed decades of urban decline.ms Republican Governor Mike DeWine called the decision "a mistake," noting that violent gangs control much of Haiti and its government "barely functions."ms Nursing-home operators and hotel chains across the country said they faced losing irreplaceable workers, with one Boston-area skilled-care CEO warning he would lose caregivers who had "established relationships with our seniors."cnn The House of Representatives had passed a bill extending TPS for Haitians, but Trump is expected to veto any such measure.npr