New York, NY—Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in Mullin v. Doe, siding with the Trump administration and allowing the DHS Secretary to move forward in terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian nationals, and opening the way for arbitrary and statutorily unlawful TPS terminations in the future.
The court reversed the lower courts’ orders that had blocked termination of TPS for Syrian and Haitian nationals. Beyond the impact on Syrian and Haitian TPS holders, the court dramatically limited judicial oversight of the Administration's TPS decisions, which could make it easier for the Administration to terminate TPS for other countries going forward, even when those terminations do not comply with legal requirements.
More than 330,000 Haitians and Syrians will lose TPS status nationally, including more than 40,000 New Yorkers who now face the loss of legal protections that have allowed them to live and work in the United States for years. Today’s decision weakens those protections and places hundreds of thousands of people at risk of family separation, economic instability and deportation to countries that continue to face serious humanitarian challenges. It also puts the 1.3 million TPS holders nationally at risk. Together, TPS holders contribute more than $1.1 billion to the New York economy each year.
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“The Supreme Court has again allowed the Trump Administration to violate the law, now and in the future, when trying to end Temporary Protected Status. The racial animus was clear, and clearly documented by the court’s dissenting justices. For decades, Temporary Protected Status has provided safety to people who cannot return home because of war, political instability, natural disasters, and other extraordinary conditions. This decision is a tragedy for hundreds of thousands of families. Our Haitian and Syrian neighbors with TPS face imminent loss of status, and this decision weakens protections for 1.3 million TPS holders from all countries nationally. Parents will be separated from their children, longtime residents will lose the livelihoods they have spent years building, and people who have contributed to this country for decades will be forced back to dangerous and unstable conditions. Our nation’s executive and judicial branches have chosen cruelty. Today’s decision undermines both our obligations to those fleeing for their lives and undermines the safeguards Congress established to protect them. Congress has the ability to undo this decision, and it must act."