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Supreme Court rules Trump can remove deportation protection from Haitians, Syrians

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WASHINGTON —The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration could go ahead and yank temporary protected status (TPS) for thousands of Syrian and Haitian migrants, paving the way for their deportation.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court ruled that the statute behind TPS does not allow for judicial review, and therefore, lower courts can’t stay the administration’s decision to remove deportation protections for more than 6,000 Syrians and 350,000 Haitians living in the US.

“The TPS statute plainly bars consideration of respondents’ non-constitutional claims. It allows ‘no judicial review of any determination … with respect to the … termination’ of a TPS designation,” Republican-appointed Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.

“Under either of these definitions, [of determination, the statute] bars respondents’ non-constitutional claims,” he further explained. “Each claim concerns a discrete decision made by the Secretary—for example, her decision to consult the State Department in a particular manner and her decision that country conditions in Syria and Haiti justified termination of their TPS designations.”

The two cases revolved around two different lawsuits from groups of Syrians and Haitians, who both contended that the move was born of unlawful racial animus rather than geopolitical consideration.

The lower courts had kept the protections in place while the case was pending.

The Supreme Court previously cleared the way for the Trump administration to pull TPS for 600,000 Venezuelans in the US last year.

TPS had been in effect for Haitians since 2010 after an earthquake rocked the country, and for Syrians since 2012 due to the oppression of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Plaintiffs had cited remarks from President Trump and then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to argue that the decision to yank TPS for Haitians in particular was fueled by racial animus.

They also argued that the Trump administration did not make a serious assessment of whether it was safe for those migrants to be sent back to their home country.

Over 1.3 million nationals across 17 countries received TPS protections as of March of last year, per the National Immigration Forum. Under statutory law, administrations can “designate” countries for migrants to get temporary protection.

TPS has been in effect since 1990, and allows eligible migrants to seek work authorization for over a year and a half.

Over 1.3 million nationals across 17 countries received TPS protections as of March of last year, per the National Immigration Forum. Under statutory law, administrations can “designate” countries for migrants to get temporary protection.

During oral arguments, several Democrat-appointed justices revisited Trump’s “s—thole countries” remarks as well as his comments about “poisoning the blood‘ of Americans and past riffs about “bad genes” to suggest the policy change was motivated by racism.

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“Now we have a president saying at one point that Haiti is a ‘filthy, dirty and disgusting s—hole country,’” Democrat-appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor said. “I’m quoting him.”

“He declared illegal immigrants, which he associated with TPS, as poisoning the blood of America,” she went on. “I don’t see how that one statement is not … showing that a discriminatory purpose may have played a part in this decision.”

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