The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to strip thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants of the humanitarian status that protects them from deportation, giving another boost to the president’s hardline approach to immigration.The 6-3 decision, driven by the court’s conservative justices, overturned rulings by federal judges who had blocked administration actions that ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,100 from Syria.Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the decision, wrote that courts cannot review administration decisions related to TPS, a decision that could expose any country to legal challenges if it revokes the status. “The law governing TPS clearly prohibits such judicial review,” Alito wrote.
Kagan disagrees: ‘Race played a role’
Justice Elena Kagan dissented with fellow liberals Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, saying the evidence was clear that race played a role in the administration’s Haiti decision. Kagan highlighted several examples of Trump’s prior statements, including his false claims while running for reelection in 2024 that Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs in Ohio, and that Haitian immigration is “like a death wish for our country.”“References to filth, disease, and primitiveness are peppered with racial stereotypes and posturing,” Kagan said. “It’s hard to imagine any white community making these statements today.”Alito said in his decision that none of the quoted statements were “overtly racial” and “could rest on a race-neutral justification.”
Miller says Haiti safe to return
White House adviser Stephen Miller said the US is completely closed to asylum seekers and that Haitian refugees with TPS should leave the country, dismissing concerns about violence while comparing crime rates in Haiti to US cities. “The fact is, there may be parts of Haiti where the crime rate is higher, so guess what? There are parts of Chicago where the crime rate is just as high,” Miller said.“The doors to America are completely closed to asylum seekers,” Miller said. He said the administration has implemented agreements to deport asylum seekers to other countries.The dispute has potentially sweeping implications, affecting 1.3 million immigrants from all 17 countries currently designated for TPS. The Trump administration has said such protections were always meant to be temporary. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanch praised the decision, saying the Justice Department “successfully defended the position that TPS was always meant to be temporary.”Wills Dorsenville, a Haitian TPS holder and co-founder of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Ohio, said the decision left thousands of families in immediate fear. Dorsenville said, “Haiti is not safe and everyone knows it. The court’s decision will not change the reality on the ground or our contribution to the United States.”In a separate 6-3 decision, the court sided with the administration in defense of the government’s right to deport asylum seekers when officials believed the US-Mexico border crossings were too burdened to handle additional claims. This policy, known as “metering”, allows U.S. immigration officials to stop asylum seekers at the border and refuse to process their claims indefinitely.