WASHINGTON — The nation’s highest court will consider the Trump administration’s effort to terminate temporary protected status for individuals who have fled conflict and disasters in Haiti, Syria, and other nations worldwide.
On Monday, the Supreme Court justices declined to immediately remove these protections, which means hundreds of thousands of individuals can continue residing and working legally in the United States for the time being.
The case is scheduled for oral arguments next month.
The court, which has a conservative majority, has previously supported the Trump administration on immigration matters and permitted the termination of comparable protections for 600,000 Venezuelan nationals while legal challenges continue, potentially subjecting them to removal proceedings.
The administration filed urgent appeals after federal courts blocked the immediate termination of temporary protected status for 350,000 Haitian nationals and 6,000 Syrian nationals.
The Justice Department contended that the Department of Homeland Security possesses exclusive authority to terminate these protections, which were initially intended as short-term measures.
However, immigration lawyers maintained that both nations remain in significant crisis and that returning individuals would be unsafe.
Federal courts in New York and Washington, D.C., have issued orders postponing the termination of protections, with one court determining that “hostility to nonwhite immigrants” likely influenced the decision to end Haitian protections. Circuit courts of appeals upheld these rulings.
Approximately 1.3 million individuals who have fled armed conflicts and natural disasters globally have received temporary protected status. The administration seeks a comprehensive ruling that would prevent courts from interfering when Homeland Security chooses to terminate a country designation.
Officials have stated that conditions in the designated countries have stabilized and have rejected claims that racial bias influenced their decisions.
Temporary protected status permits individuals to legally reside and work in the United States, although it does not offer a pathway to citizenship. Since Republican Donald Trump’s return to office, Homeland Security has initiated termination procedures for the program covering multiple countries.
