Supreme Court Allows End to Protections for Haitian and Syrian Nationals

The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted the administration to end Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, removing lower-court barriers to possible deportations. The 6-3 decision followed ideological lines and reversed earlier blocks that had kept the protections active.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority that judges had gone beyond their authority by reviewing the administration’s choice.

In a separate 6-3 ruling the same day, the court sustained a metering policy first introduced under the Obama administration. The policy permits Customs and Border Protection agents at bridges between Mexico and the United States to turn away asylum seekers before they reach ports of entry.

The decision overturned a 2024 ruling by a divided 9th Circuit panel that had treated people approaching the border as already inside the United States and therefore eligible to file asylum claims. The program had covered Haitians after the 2010 earthquake and Syrians during that country’s civil war.

Last year the Supreme Court allowed similar terminations affecting 600,000 Venezuelans. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court that decisions by the outgoing Homeland Security secretary on revoking TPS designations are not subject to judicial review.

“The court also rejected a claim that the decision to remove protections for Haitians was discriminatory.”

The administration had argued that the earlier Venezuelan rulings should apply to the Haitian and Syrian cases as well.