Supreme Court Betrays More than 1 Million Temporary Protected Status Holders

(Washington)—The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) severely condemns today’s ruling supported by the conservative members of the Supreme Court who have betrayed more than 1 million Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders in this country by allowing the Trump administration to end legal protections for people who fled countries beset by violence and natural disasters.

While this case centered on the TPS of approximately 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians, the 6-3 decision will allow the Department of Homeland Security to end the TPS protections for approximately 1.3 million people currently in the United States without judicial review. Many of these people have been in the United States for decades.

Once again, the court has handed President Trump another unrestricted tool to achieve his vile and racist mass deportation agenda. Millions of people across the country now face the instability that comes from loss of work authorization and protection from deportation. Family stability will be torn apart by this hateful decision which will have catastrophic repercussions for communities - particularly communities of color–in every U.S. state.

TPS holders are urged to seek legal advice from a trusted legal service provider about their rights and options. Further guidance will be forthcoming in the days ahead about how the decision will impact TPS holders from various countries.

So far, this term, the court has eroded protections for lawful permanent residents, curtailed the rights of asylum seekers at the border and now, paved the way for the Trump administration to arrest, detain and deport millions of TPS holders. The ILRC calls on the court to re-consider this pattern of anti-immigrant sentiment, and uphold the birthright citizenship protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.