The U.S. Supreme Court has sharply limited the ability of federal courts to review Department of Homeland Security decisions on Temporary Protected Status, a shift that immigration advocates say strips a key legal safeguard from immigrants who rely on the program to live and work in the country legally.
In a 6-3 decision issued June 25 in Mullin v. Doe, consolidated with Trump v. Miot, the justices paused lower-court orders that had blocked the Trump administration from ending TPS designations for Haiti and Syria. According to SCOTUSblog, the Court ruled that the federal law creating TPS generally bars courts from reviewing determinations by the Secretary of Homeland Security to terminate a country’s designation.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the statute’s language prohibiting judicial review “is clear, and its plain meaning is very broad.” The provision at issue, section 1254a(b)(5)(A), states that there is no judicial review of any determination with respect to the designation, termination, or extension of a designation. Alito wrote that the phrase “with respect to” has a broadening effect and that courts generally cannot review the individual steps that led to a termination decision.
What the program does
Congress created Temporary Protected Status in 1990. As SCOTUSblog notes, the program lets DHS designate a country whose nationals cannot safely return home because of natural disaster, armed conflict, or other extraordinary conditions, allowing them to remain and work in the United States. Then-Secretary Janet Napolitano designated Haiti in 2010 after an earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people, and Syria in 2012 amid the crackdown by Bashar al-Assad.
Those designations were repeatedly extended until 2025, when then-Secretary Kristi Noem moved to end both. Noem said a new Syrian government was working toward stable governance and that conditions in Haiti no longer prevented nationals from returning safely, and she said continuing the designations would be “contrary to the national interest,” per SCOTUSblog.
The dissent
Justice Elena Kagan dissented, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. She argued the judicial-review bar is narrower than the majority claimed and does not cover procedural steps the secretary must take before reaching a determination, such as consulting other agencies about country conditions. Kagan wrote that the beneficiaries asked only “that they may stay in this country while they continue to litigate their claims,” according to SCOTUSblog.
The Haitian plaintiffs had argued the termination was motivated by race, citing derogatory statements by President Donald Trump. Alito acknowledged the statements contained “heated language” but said none was “overtly racial” and concluded the equal protection claim would likely fail. Kagan countered that the statements “fairly shout” in their racial undertones. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion arguing that courts also lack power to review the constitutional claim.
Who is affected
The ruling reaches beyond the two countries in the case. Ms. Magazine reported the decision affects more than 350,000 Haitians and roughly 6,000 Syrians living in the United States under TPS. Axios reported that about 1.3 million people held TPS at the start of Trump’s term, according to the American Immigration Council, and that hundreds of thousands have since lost protections as the administration moved to end designations for more than a dozen countries.
According to guidance summarized by Fisher Phillips, USCIS announced that TPS-based work permits will expire July 24, 2026, for Haiti and July 17, 2026, for Syria.
Esther Sung, legal director of the Justice Action Center, told Axios that “the ripple effects of this are going to be really big” for TPS holders and their communities. FWD.us president Todd Schulte told the outlet the revocations are “absolutely without precedent” in scale within the modern immigration system.
DHS defended the terminations. A DHS spokesperson told Axios that recipients without another lawful immigration status would be subject to deportation once TPS ends, and USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said the agency was “upholding the rule of law.” Axios reported that roughly 80% of TPS holders participated in the labor market, citing a 2025 University of Pennsylvania study.
The Trump administration has returned to the Supreme Court on related matters. On July 15, according to SCOTUSblog, it asked the justices to have a lower court reconsider protected status for Venezuelan and Haitian nationals.
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