Supreme Court Ruling Affects Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians

In a significant development for the Trump administration, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Haitian and Syrian nationals in the country can have their temporary protected status (TPS) removed.

The decision, which was made with a six to three vote along ideological lines, addressed the judicial review rights concerning the ending of these designations, as well as potential race considerations.

The court maintained that the TPS statute limited judicial review of the “respondents’ non-constitutional claims,” and indicated that the lone constitutional claim was unlikely to succeed. It also expressed skepticism about proving race as a motivating factor in this decision.

“Ironically, respondents themselves offer a race-neutral explanation for the Government’s action: namely, that the current administration, which has terminated every TPS designation that has come up for renewal, simply opposes the TPS program as it has been implemented in the past,” the court document noted.

“Viewing all the relevant evidence, we conclude that respondents are unlikely to prove that race was a motivating factor in the decision to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation,” the majority opinion stated.

However, Justice Elena Kagan, supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, expressed dissent, arguing that the designations were ended improperly and included race-based factors in the decision-making process.

“But the law prevents the program from ending as it likely did here — without the required consultations about country conditions and, as to Haiti, with impermissible race-based considerations tainting the decision,” the dissenting opinion read.

The TPS was granted to Haiti and Syria in 2010 and 2012, respectively, and has been in place for over a decade. Reports suggest that this ruling could impact roughly 350,000 Haitians and around 6,000 Syrians currently holding TPS.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.