The US Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favour of the Trump administration’s decision to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) granted to more than 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
Impact on Venezuelan Migrants
The court has also permitted the administration to cancel temporary legal status for an estimated 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in a separate case. That represents a sharp reversal of the status of many people who had been given protections under the Biden-era program.
This decision follows a month since a federal judge held that the Trump administration cannot immediately cancel the deportation shields and work permits of hundreds of thousands of migrants from these areas, who had entered America legally under a program introduced by the Biden administration. An emergency appeal to the Supreme Court was submitted by the Trump administration after a federal judge in Boston suspended its efforts to cancel the program.
Immigration Agenda of Donald Trump
President Donald Trump, during his 2024 campaign, had vowed to remove millions of undocumented immigrants and reform what he referred to as flawed immigration policies. Trump has continued, since coming back to power, to dismantle Biden-era policies that had initiated legal avenues for migrants to stay in the US for limited periods under humanitarian grounds.
Trump generated controversy in a recent presidential debate by echoing rumors that Haitian migrants in Ohio, who are living on humanitarian parole, were kidnapping and eating pets allegations that have been widely criticized and have not been confirmed.
The Future of TPS and Immigrant Communities
TPS is a humanitarian protection program created by Congress in 1990, under which residents of specified countries affected by armed conflict, environmental disasters, or exceptional conditions may temporarily reside and work in the United States. This status has, over the years, accorded essential support to migrants from crisis-affected countries.
Friday’s Supreme Court decision now hangs over the fate of hundreds of thousands of such immigrants. Advocates fear revoking TPS could trigger widespread deportations and the breakdown of communities that have resided and worked in the US for decades.
As immigration once again is on everyone’s lips, this ruling will become a central issue in the 2026 midterm elections.
