The immigration status of several thousand Syrians and upwards of 350,000 Haitians (many working in the long-term care setting) in the country under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program will be argued by the U.S. Supreme Court from April 27-29.

According to the SCOTUS Blog, the status of the two sets of nationals from Syria and Haiti will hinge on the court agreeing or rejecting whether the Trump administration can end the TPS program. The work permits for these individuals remain valid until decided otherwise. The court’s eventual ruling is likely to follow by late June or early July, the blog said.

Congress enacted the TPS program in 1990. The program gives the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to designate a country’s citizens as eligible to remain in the country and work if they cannot return to their own country because of a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other “extraordinary and temporary” conditions.

Administration Wants to End TPS

The Trump Administration had asked the Supreme Court to give it emergency relief from the U.S. Justice Dept. in order to end temporary deportation protections for the Syrians and Haitians. The much larger cohort of people from Haiti have a large worker presence in skilled nursing and related healthcare settings in states like Florida and Massachusetts.

Haitians were first granted TPS in 2010 because of a tragic earthquake and its aftermath.

When elected for the first time, President Trump tried to end protections for Haitians but was unable to do so before his term ended amid a court battle.

As for this most recent development, the Trump Administration is acting after a federal judge in February handed a legal victory to the Haitians, blocking a decision last fall by DHS to terminate the designation of TPS for Haiti, effective Feb. 3, 2026.

The DHS termination is now blocked nationwide because of the Feb. 2 decision by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who granted a stay maintaining the legal status of Haitian nationals "pending judicial review." Reyes is a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She ruled that the Trump Administration’s efforts to strip the TPS designation for Haitians as unlawful.

Comments or questions? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.