SCOTUS Eviscerates Asylum Protections for More Than a Million Immigrants

When Congress created and enacted the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) program in 1990, then-President George H.W. Bush (shudder) said he was “pleased to note that this Act facilitates immigration not just in numerical terms, but also in terms of basic entry rights of those beyond our borders.” Now, Bush Sr. is no renowed legend in our minds—and in some spaces of the world today, his biggest legacy is being the guy who barfed all over Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa during a state dinner in 1992. So it can’t be good that—once again—we’ve got all but the words of a Bush for some sage political advice. 

Alas, all this is because on Thursday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to remove TPS status from immigrants, stripping protections from at least 1.3 million individuals from 17 different countries.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling in our case deals a devastating blow to the rights of people seeking asylum, to the rule of law, and to this country’s legacy as a beacon of hope for people fleeing persecution and torture,” Melissa Crow, a director of litigation at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and co-counsel in the case, told Jezebel in a statement. “The decision adopts an interpretation of our immigration laws that defies the text of the asylum statute, and Congress’ intent in adopting it, which was to ensure that we do not return people seeking refuge to harm.”

The case in question began when former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem moved to terminate TPS status last year for people from Haiti and Syria, claiming both countries were safe enough for immigrants to return. (The U.S. maintains a Level 4 travel advisory against both.) Several lower courts ruled it illegal for the administration to do this, accusing Noem of both failing to follow proper protocol while canceling TPS, as well as acting in a way that unlawfully discriminated against immigrants on the basis of race. 

Thursday’s 6-3 decision overturns the lower courts’ decisions, and in his majority opinion, Alito argued that the lower courts overstepped their authority in challenging the administration, dismissing also the claims of discriminations against Haitians by saying plaintiffs’ statements were not “overtly racial” and “insufficient to show that the termination of Haiti’s TPS designation was based on the race of the Haitian people.”

Last case is the TPS case. As expected, the Republican court, 6-3, has told Haitian and Syrian immigrants to get lost. Republicans say they can’t stay while their litigation is pending, and that the court can’t review TPS decisions made by Noem or MarkWayneGaceyJohnJacobJingleheimer

— ElieNYC (@elienyc.bsky.social) June 25, 2026 at 3:26 PM

 

Bullshit. In celebration of the decision, Katie Miller—wife of anti-immigration troll and—per Hunter Biden—“ugly fuck” White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller—celebrated the decision by resurfacing a MAGA conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants, which baselessly claimed undocumented Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were kidnapping and eating people’s cats. “Great news for the dogs and cats of Springfield,” she tweeted. Fuck off, Katie.

Per data from the Congressional Research Service, of the more-than-million people with TPS status, at least 330,000 are Haitians and 3,800 are Syrians. 

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan said the majority “claims to see no evidence that race played any role in the Haiti decision.” “But the evidence is there, plain to see, in the President’s statements, which the majority (and for that matter, his own lawyers) cannot even bear to repeat.”

“Cruelty is not a substitute for real solutions,” Rebecca Cassler, another co-counsel in the case and senior litigation attorney at the American Immigration Council also said in a statement shared with Jezebel, adding also that “blocking people from seeking asylum at official ports of entry will do nothing to fix our broken immigration system.” “Unfortunately, today’s decision validates an approach that treats people seeking safety as a problem to shut out instead of creating an orderly system that actually works,”