Supreme Court Upholds Authority to End Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians. The decision clears the way for cancellation of protections for more than 330,000 Haitians and 4,000 Syrians, NPR reported.

On Wednesday the Department of Homeland Security said existing Employment Authorization Documents for TPS recipients will expire on July 10. Florida has 158,000 Haitian TPS recipients, New York has 40,000 and Massachusetts has 19,000. Steffie Woolhandler, a distinguished professor of health policy at City University of New York at Hunter College and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, said the ruling will hit long-term care facilities hardest.

Woolhandler co-authored a 2025 report that found roughly 50,000 physicians and 145,000 registered nurses in the U.S. are noncitizens. FWD.us estimates 21,000 Haitian TPS holders work as nursing assistants and caregivers.

Two-thirds of U.S. hospitals have closed beds because of staffing shortages and about half of nursing homes cannot accept new admissions for the same reason, according to the report. Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, which represents more than 5,300 aging service providers, said TPS holders make up 8 percent or more of the workforce at some providers.

In Springfield, Ohio, where one in four residents is of Haitian descent, Viles Dorsainvil, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center, said dozens of TPS holders called him after the ruling. Dorsainvil, a 40-year-old TPS recipient who entered the U.S. on a visitor visa in 2020 and is enrolled in a dual master's program at Wright State University, advised people to sign powers of attorney and guardianship documents for American-born children.