A Supreme Court ruling on June 25, 2026, has placed the future of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program in jeopardy, allowing the Trump administration to proceed with ending deportation protections for thousands of immigrants.
The decision directly affects approximately 330,000 individuals from Haiti and Syria.
The court confirmed that the secretary of homeland security holds sole authority over granting or revoking TPS designations.
The administration has already canceled TPS for 10 nations, impacting over one million people.
Designations for Lebanon, El Salvador, Sudan, and Ukraine are set to expire later this year.
"It certainly does seem like the number of people who have TPS will continue to decline in this administration," said Julia Gelatt, associate director of U.
S. immigration policy at the Migration Policy Institute.
Gelatt noted that the policy trajectory could lead to a complete elimination of the program by the end of the year.
"We may even end up by the end of this year without anybody who has temporary protected status," Gelatt said.
Immigrant advocacy groups highlighted the long-term community ties established by the affected populations since Congress created the program in 1990.
"They live with hundreds of thousands of U. S.
citizens, family members and spouses and siblings," said Todd Schulte, president of FWD. us.
Schulte emphasized that many recipients have resided legally in the United States for decades.
"These are people who have been building their lives here for over a quarter century, and there is no precedent in modern immigration history for revoking status for a population like that," Schulte said.
He also stated that the administration has simultaneously blocked alternative pathways to legal residency.
"There is no TPS to green card pathway," Schulte said.
According to Schulte, administrative actions have increasingly targeted immigrants seeking alternative legal adjustments.
"To the extent that there may be some other pathways, this very same administration has also banned them," Schulte said.
He expressed concern over the strict enforcement measures being utilized at judicial venues.
"These are the very same people who are being subject to courthouse arrests," Schulte said.
Schulte criticized the current deployment of immigration enforcement resources.
"Where there is [an option] people are finding that that's often a way that they're being funneled into being arrested, which is absolutely a travesty," Schulte said.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the administration's stance, stating that the program was never intended to provide permanent residency.
"The status itself can be ended," Mullin said on CNN on Sunday.
Mullin urged recipients to seek alternative legal status independently or prepare to depart.
"Either try to fill out the paperwork and be here under permanent status or we'll help you get back to your home country," Mullin said.
The secretary argued that beneficiaries have had ample time to alter their legal presence.
"A lot of these individuals haven't been here 18 months, they have been here 18 years.
… they have had plenty of time to establish their status inside the United States and they chose not to," Mullin said.
Legal representatives for TPS recipients indicated that while the termination for Haiti and Syria is finalized, specific timelines remain unresolved.
"There's a lot of uncertainty right now," said Jessica Bansal, TPS counsel with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Bansal noted that outstanding lawsuits concerning terminations for Ethiopia, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are still being contested in federal courts.
