In a series of landmark rulings, the US Supreme Court has sided with President Donald Trump, granting the administration broad powers to enforce a hardline immigration policy.
On Thursday (June 25, 2026), the court allowed the Trump administration to end humanitarian protections (TPS) that had permitted Haitian and Syrian nationals to live and work legally in the United States for more than a decade. The same day, the court also upheld the rejection of asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border, permitting border agents to turn them away even before they set foot on US soil.
Earlier, on Tuesday (June 23, 2026), the court granted broad authority to border agents to deport people with green cards (legal permanent residents) if they are charged with a crime involving “moral turpitude.”
In each of these cases, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority gave the administration wide latitude to bypass or enforce immigration law as it sees fit.
The ruling to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of people has sparked significant controversy. Justice Samuel Alito argued that Trump’s statements calling Haiti a “shithole country” and claiming Haitians were “poisoning the blood” of America did not prove the policy was racist. He pointed out that the administration had ended TPS for all countries whose designations were under review, including nations in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
However, shortly after the ruling, senior advisor Stephen Miller appeared on Fox News with inflammatory remarks, asserting that the United States should not accept immigrants from “countries that have never had any connection to the West, never developed an internal combustion engine or an airplane, a television, a radio, or an internet.” Miller also made clear that the administration is aiming to return to the xenophobic immigration policies of the 1920s.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has paused most asylum programs except for white South Africans, and has sought to reshape the refugee system to prioritize English speakers and white Europeans. Another policy, blocked by a federal judge, would have stopped processing green-card applications from 39 mostly African and Middle Eastern countries.
With the Supreme Court's approval, the administration is now able to reimpose “metering” at the southern border, allowing officials to stand at the US-Mexico boundary and stop migrants seeking asylum.
These rulings not only close the border to new immigrants but also aim to remove those who have lived and worked in the US for years. José Palma, coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, stated: “Don’t let anyone tell you this administration is only targeting undocumented immigrants. By trying to kill TPS, they are attacking people who are living and working here legally, paying fees and taxes, following every rule. They are stripping people of their papers.”
An estimated 350,000 Haitians and 4,000 Syrians — who fled political instability, economic collapse and civil war — could lose their protections. Viles Dorsainvil, co-founder of the Haitian Support Center and a TPS holder originally from Haiti, shared: “Families have started asking us questions we can't answer. This is the saddest day of my life.”
Activists are now urging Congress to extend protections for Haitians, Syrians and other migrant groups. Ahilan Arulanantham, attorney for the Syrian plaintiffs in the lawsuit, argued that the court's ruling is worrying not only for immigration cases but for racial justice in the country more broadly.
The Supreme Court is also expected to rule on whether Trump can abolish birthright citizenship for thousands of people born in the US to temporary visitors or undocumented immigrants.
