What the Supreme Court Just Decided About Protecting Syrian Refugees from Deportation
The Supreme Court ruled on June 25, 2026 in Mullin v. Doe on whether Syrian immigrants facing deportation can go to court to challenge the Trump administration's decision to end their legal protection.
To understand this case, you need to know what Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, does. It's a program created in 1990 that lets immigrants from countries in crisis — countries at war, hit by natural disasters, or facing other emergencies — live and work in the U.S. without fear of being deported. Right now, hundreds of thousands of people rely on it, according to Reuters.
The Trump administration has been working to end TPS for immigrants from multiple countries. It ended it for Somalia in January 2026 and announced more terminations the following month.
What the Government Argued
The administration said it has the power to end TPS on its own, without courts being able to stop it or question the decision. But lower courts disagreed. Those judges said people facing deportation have the right to challenge the termination in court, and that the government must follow a law called the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires agencies to act fairly and with good reason.
The administration's position is rooted in a January 20, 2025 presidential order directing federal agencies to enforce immigration law strictly and treat previous protections as no longer binding. TPS terminations for multiple countries followed in the months after.
Other Cases Moving Through the Courts
The Syria case is not the only TPS case the Supreme Court is deciding. The Court already ruled on a similar case involving Venezuela's TPS. Another case about Haiti's TPS is still waiting for the Court to act on it — Ohio's Attorney General has filed a brief supporting the government's position.
What the Court decides in these cases matters for everyone with TPS. The central question is simple: Can courts review and block TPS terminations, or does the government have final say? The Court's answers will shape what happens to people from Syria, Haiti, and other countries with TPS status.
