Supreme Court allows cancellation of TPS for Haitians, Syrians, as attorneys warn of impact on thousands

Supreme Court allows cancellation of TPS for Haitians, Syrians, as attorneys warn of impact on thousands

The ruling is likely to have a sweeping impact on the approximately 1.3 million people who rely on TPS to live and work in the United States legally. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that courts cannot override the federal government's determination about TPS status in most cases.

"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," Alito wrote.

James Percival, the Department of Homeland Security's General Counsel, praised Thursday's ruling. "The T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY, yet many of these designations became de facto amnesty. This is a win for the rule of law and common sense," he said in a statement.

Attorneys for the Haitian plaintiffs said in a statement Thursday that the ruling "will directly result in thousands of innocent people dying violent, needless deaths."

"The evidence they have offered includes statements by the President so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print," wrote Justice Kagan.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has defended the Springfield community, said deporting Haitians "is a mistake." "As a result of today's ruling, the over 10,000 Haitians who have been living in Ohio (mostly in the Springfield area) legally through TPS will now be here illegally and will be subject to immediate deportation," the governor said in a statement. "This also means that while these Haitians were working and contributing to our community and economy yesterday, today it is now illegal to employ them," he added.

Pastor Carl Ruby, a prominent community leader in Springfield, Ohio, said: "This is the worst possible outcome." Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake in 2010. Syria devolved into civil war around 2011.