Supreme Court Clears Deportations of Haitian and Syrian TPS Holders, States Resist

On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Doe that the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) statute bars judicial review of non-constitutional challenges to the Secretary's termination decisions. The decision clears the way for the Trump administration to end protections for approximately 330,000 Haitian nationals and roughly 6,100 Syrian nationals, according to the American Immigration Council, which cites about 330,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians. The court's holding, authored by the conservative majority, concluded that the Immigration and Nationality Act's TPS provision strips federal courts of jurisdiction over decisions the Secretary makes, except for constitutional claims. This overturns lower-court injunctions that had previously blocked terminations, and allows DHS to commence removal proceedings for hundreds of thousands of people who have lived and worked in the U.S. for over a decade.

Blue-state leaders immediately denounced the decision. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey stated the state will not cooperate with mass deportations, echoing Los Angeles' sanctuary ordinance model. Advocacy groups like Global Refuge and the ACLU, who brought the suit, are evaluating next steps. The ruling's concrete effect is that DHS can now begin removal proceedings absent a new legal challenge on constitutional grounds. The primary harm falls on families with deep U.S. roots—many TPS holders own businesses and have U.S.-citizen children. The ruling also sets a precedent curtailing judicial oversight of executive immigration power, tying the hands of lower courts that had previously halted terminations. Reversing the harm would require either a legislative fix, such as the proposed TPS Codification Act, or a new constitutional challenge reaching a different outcome.