Supreme Court to weigh Trump bid to end temporary protections for Haitians and Syrians
Mar 16th 2026
The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month over the Biden administration's successor administration's push to end temporary protected status for people from Haiti and Syria after lower courts halted the terminations, leaving hundreds of thousands able to live and work in the US for now.
- Supreme Court will hear the case next month after refusing to immediately lift protections for hundreds of thousands of people.
- The appeals target termination of TPS for about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, part of roughly 1.3 million people with TPS worldwide.
- The Justice Department argues the Department of Homeland Security has sole authority to end TPS and asks for a broad ruling that would limit court review.
- Lower courts blocked the terminations and one judge found that hostility to nonwhite immigrants likely influenced the decision on Haiti.
- The conservative-majority court previously allowed ending TPS for about 600,000 Venezuelans while legal challenges proceed.
- Temporary protected status lets people live and work legally in the US but does not provide a path to citizenship.
- Homeland Security says conditions in affected countries have improved and denies racial animus influenced the decisions to end protections.