Supreme Court clears way for Trump to end TPS

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Thursday to allow the Trump administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, removing judicial oversight from a humanitarian program covering 1.3 million people across 17 countries.

Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that the TPS statute “plainly bars” judicial review, leaving courts powerless even where a revocation violated congressionally mandated procedures. Lower courts had found that former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem bypassed mandatory interagency review, but Thursday’s ruling renders those findings unenforceable. The decision extends to 13 other nations under the administration’s rollbacks, including Afghanistan, Myanmar and Nepal.

The liberal justices dissented forcefully. Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, described Trump’s statements about Haitians as “so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print.” They also cited them directly, including his 2018 characterization of Haiti as a “shithole country,” his false 2024 campaign claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating residents’ pets and his suggestion that Haitians “probably have AIDS.” Alito, however, dismissed each as insufficient to establish unconstitutional racial animus.

The ruling’s reach affects Asian immigrants. Eliminating judicial review across all 17 TPS-designated countries leaves holders from nations like Afghanistan, Myanmar and Nepal with no legal recourse if their designations are revoked. Additionally, it gives the administration a free hand to end the program for remaining countries, effectively dashing hopes among more than 600,000 Venezuelans that their terminated protections might be revived.

The economic consequences are also significant. Haitian TPS holders contribute an estimated $5.9 billion in annual economic activity and $1.6 billion in federal, state and local taxes, with approximately 190,000 employed across hospitality, healthcare and retail, according to a FWD.us analysis published earlier this year.

The court also upheld metering in a separate 6-3 ruling authorizing border agents to physically block asylum seekers from reaching U.S. soil before they can request protection. The State Department’s “do not travel” advisories for Haiti and Syria compound both decisions.

Civil rights groups naturally condemned the ruling. NAACP President Derrick Johnson called it “a devastating betrayal of Haitian families who have lived, worked and contributed to this country for years — only to be cast out based on anti-Black immigration sentiment.”. Meanwhile, lead counsel for the Haitian plaintiffs Geoff Pipoly and Andy Tauber warned it “will directly result in thousands of innocent people dying violent, needless deaths” and urged the Senate to take up the Haitian deportation extension that cleared the House with rare bipartisan support in April 2026.

The Supreme Court is expected to release additional rulings next week, including on birthright citizenship.