The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to scrap the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) of 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian immigrants in the US. The 6-3 decision of the SCOTUS means that Haitians and Syrian immigrants living under TPS could be deported.
After the decision, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller spoke to reporters and detailed the consequences of the ruling on those it was set to affect. When asked if the ruling would lead to deportation, Miller replied in the affirmative, indicating steps could soon be in the offing.
“Do you expect the Administration to deport anyone who loses TPS status as a result of this ruling?” Miller was asked by a journalist at the Capitol.
“Well, of course,” he said. “If [they] no longer have status in this country, then you’re supposed to be deported.”
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In general, the Trump administration has welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court which paves the way for large-scale deportations. Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, released a statement after the verdict, but that did not have a direct reference to the deportation plan.
“This is a tremendous win for the Trump Administration. Today, the Supreme Court affirmed what President Trump has always maintained: temporary protected status is, by definition, temporary,” a statement from Jackson read.
Does TPS Removal Mean Automatic Deportation?
The Supreme Court’s ruling has sparked fears among the Haitian and Syrian communities about potential large-scale deportations. However, the withdrawal of the TPS status does not necessarily mean an automatic deportation. There are other pathways, such as seeking asylum status in the US, which allow people to remain despite the cancellation of TPS.
The Supreme Court took two similar decisions in 2025, which gave the green light to the Trump administration to scrap the TPS of around 60,000 Venezuelans living in the United States. A series of flights to Venezuela have been used for deportation, but the total number of deportations is estimated to be between 8000 and 9000.
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Sharp Division In SCOTUS Over TPS Decision
Despite the 6-3 ruling in favor of the removal, which experts argue could pave the way for the administration to revoke the TPS status of more communities, a sharp division among the conservative and liberal judges was noted. So much so that Jude Samuel Alito, who wrote the judgment for the majority, clashed with liberal judge Sonia Sotomayor over the decision.
Elena Kagan, another liberal judge, pointed out Trump’s allegedly derogatory comments on Haitians, highlighting that it has racial “undertones and overtones” alike. Her remarks came after Justice Alito’s remarks that the statements cited by the plaintiff in the case were not “insufficient to show that the termination of Haiti’s TPS designation was based on the race of the Haitian people.”
