Trump Admin Asks SCOTUS to Allow Deportation of 350,000 Haitians
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court of the United States to clear the way for the administration of President Donald J. Trump to terminate temporary deportation protections for more than 350,000 Haitian immigrants.
The emergency appeal marks the latest chapter in an ongoing legal battle surrounding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s effort to roll back Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for several countries. If the protections are lifted, migrants who previously qualified for the program could face deportation proceedings.
The high court has already sided with the administration in a similar dispute involving migrants from Venezuela, allowing the rollback of their temporary protections. Meanwhile, a separate request concerning migrants from Syria remains pending before the justices.
TPS for Haiti was first granted in 2010 following a catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people and left large portions of the country in ruins.
During his first term in office, President Trump sought to end Haiti’s TPS designation, arguing that the program was intended to be temporary and should not become a permanent immigration pathway. That decision, however, became entangled in court challenges and was never fully implemented before he left office.
After returning to the White House for his second term, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation once again. The change was scheduled to take effect Feb. 3.
In announcing the decision, Noem said ending the designation reflected “a necessary and strategic vote of confidence in the new chapter Haiti is turning” and aligned with the administration’s broader policy goals of promoting “a secure, sovereign and self-reliant Haiti.” While acknowledging that some areas of the country still face challenges, she said other regions are suitable for the return of migrants.
The move was quickly challenged in court. In December, five Haitian nationals filed a lawsuit seeking to block the policy.
Last month, Ana Reyes, a federal judge appointed during the administration of former President Joe Biden, sided with the plaintiffs and halted the policy, arguing that the decision to end TPS was likely motivated by racial animus—an assertion critics say lacked supporting evidence.
“Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants,” Reyes wrote.
“Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the [Administrative Procedure Act] to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program. The record to-date shows she has yet to do that,” she added.
Since that ruling, leadership at Homeland Security has changed. Noem has stepped down from the department and now serves as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, while Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullen has taken over as DHS secretary.
The administration appealed the ruling, but a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to lift the lower court’s order.
Now, the Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to intervene. In the filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer warned that the legal reasoning used by the lower court could have sweeping consequences for the federal government’s authority over immigration policy.
According to CBS News, Sauer argued that the court’s logic could invalidate “virtually every immigration policy of the current administration.”
He also warned that federal courts are repeatedly stepping in to halt major executive policies in ways that harm national interests.
Federal courts, Sauer wrote, “are again attempting to block major executive-branch policy initiatives in ways that inflict specific harms to the national interest and foreign relations, while crediting harms to respondents that inhere in the temporary nature of TPS.”
TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to provide short-term protections to migrants from countries experiencing war, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions that make returning home unsafe.
Individuals covered under TPS cannot be deported while the designation remains in place and are typically granted work authorization. The protections are usually issued in 18-month increments and may be renewed if conditions in the designated country remain unstable.
As part of his broader immigration agenda, President Trump’s administration has moved to terminate TPS protections for migrants from several countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Nicaragua, Somalia, and Yemen, according to CBS News.
The Supreme Court’s decision on the administration’s request could determine whether the White House will be able to proceed with one of its most significant immigration policy changes.