SCOTUS rulings on Temporary Protected Status, asylum directly harm people seeking safety, upend US communities, and abandon values

Washington, D.C. — Refugee Congress strongly denounces the Supreme Court’s decisions that allow the Trump administration to return neighbors and community members back into direct danger. In two separate cases, the court affirmed the administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians – impacting more than 350,000 people – and barring people from accessing asylum at the border. The court decisions further demonstrate the U.S. turning away not just from people seeking safety, but also from its historic values and legal obligations.

The termination of TPS for Haitians and Syrians will impact entire communities. Haitian and Syrian, who have escaped violence, persecution, and war in their home countries – which remain unsafe to return to – and have embedded themselves into the fabric of American communities. They are business owners, teachers, and childcare and healthcare workers. They have filled labor gaps and paid taxes. Terminating TPS for these community members puts them at-risk of detention and deportation, and will separate families and hurt local economies. 

For asylum seekers, the court ruling effectively ends access to safety by allowing the administration to turn people away before they can even apply for asylum. By law, a person must be physically present on U.S. land or at a port of entry in order to apply for asylum protections. 

“Today, the Supreme Court handed down two decisions that will bring real harm to entire families. People who have rebuilt their lives here — who have worked, started businesses, paid taxes, and supported our communities — are being forced back into the very danger they fled, and we are slamming the door on others who haven't even had the chance to ask for safety.” said Nili Sarit Yossinger, Executive Director. “The US was once the global leader in welcoming refugees. We helped write the laws that define a country's obligations to those seeking safety. Today, following a long year full of deeply harmful and legally questionable decisions, we broke those rules. The Court may have looked away from the cruelty and racism embedded in these decisions, but we will not. It's well past time to ask: is this really the country we want to be?”

These rulings are the latest instances in which the United States has abandoned decades-long U.S. and international laws – including the 1951 Refugee Convention – and commitments to protect people seeking safety. Refugee resettlement largely remains suspended, TPS and other protective pathways have been terminated for many at-risk populations, and families remain separated.

Today’s ruling provided legal cover for decisions that are morally and practically indefensible. Refugee Congress will continue to speak up for our communities and encourage the US to return to welcoming newcomers.