Supreme Court leans in favor of Trump’s bid to end protections for Syrian, Haitian migrants
WASHINGTON— The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared poised Wednesday to rule that the Trump administration could end temporary protections for more than 1.3 million immigrants from troubled countries.
In 1990, Congress approved Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for noncitizens who cannot return home safely because their home countries have been devastated by war, violence, or natural disasters. If these people pass a stringent background check, they can legally stay and work in this country.
But President Trump came into office believing that too many immigrants were being given permission to enter and stay indefinitely.
Last year, the Department of Homeland Security moved to rescind temporary humanitarian protection for immigrants from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Syria, Honduras and Nicaragua. Court challenges on behalf of Haitians and Syrians were consolidated into a single case, v. Mullin Doe, That’s what the judges heard on Wednesday.
Immigrant rights advocates challenged these decisions as political and unfair and won orders from federal judges blocking the reversals.
But Trump’s lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court, arguing that the justices overstepped their authority. They pointed to a provision in the 1990 law that prevents “judicial review” of the government’s decision to end temporary protection for a particular country.
The justices ruled for the administration and reversed the lower court’s decisions in a 6-3 series.
Facing criticism for their brief and undisclosed orders, the justices agreed to hear arguments on the TPS issue on the final day of oral arguments for this term.
But the ideological divide appeared to remain unchanged.
Lawyer Gen. D. John Sauer said Congress prohibited “judicial micromanagement” of these decisions, and none of the six conservatives agreed.
Ahilan T. Arulanantham, a UCLA law professor who represents thousands of Syrians, said the Secretary of Homeland Security did not consult with the State Department, which said it was not safe to travel there.
He said the government “reads the statute as a blank check giving the secretary the authority to deport people who have done nothing wrong.”
Chicago attorney Geoffrey Pipoply, who represents more than 350,000 Haitians, said the cancellations were motivated by “the president’s racist hostility toward nonwhite immigrants.”
The court’s three liberals argued that the administration did not follow the procedural steps required by law. However, this claim failed to attract attention.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett and her husband adopted two children who are Haitian citizens. Like most conservatives, he asked few questions during the debate.
