The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump and paved the way to deport thousands of Haitians and Syrians

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled this Thursday that the government of Donald Trump is authorized to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of citizens from Haiti and Syria.

The highest court, in a 6 to 3 vote that saw the dissent of the three left-leaning justices, understood that the nature of these immigration protections is, precisely, temporary. This ruling clears the way for Trump to deport about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, considering that the Court had already sided with the president in a previous ruling that allowed the termination of this same program for Venezuelan immigrants.

Under Joe Biden's administration, these protections were granted to hundreds of thousands of Haitians, allowing them to access work permits. In 2024, the Democratic administration extended the program, facilitating that both Haitians and Syrians could reside legally in the U.S. indefinitely. When Trump returned to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security revoked the regulation, an initiative that was later blocked by a Democratic judge.

The End of TPS

The first protections for Haitians were implemented in 2010, during Barack Obama's presidency, following the devastating earthquake that struck the Caribbean island. These benefits - despite being temporary - were extended multiple times citing the gang violence plaguing the country.

For their part, Syrians were granted protected status for the first time in 2012, also with Obama in Washington, when the civil war erupted that culminated in the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad at the end of 2024.

TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to nations affected by natural disasters, civil conflicts, or other factors of instability. With this mechanism, individuals can remain in the U.S. with work permits for periods of up to 18 months without providing a pathway to citizenship and has been a tool that Democrats have consistently abused to promote immigration.