Haiti & Syria Temporary Protected Status Case at Supreme Court: What You Need To Know

On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments challenging the Trump administration’s procedurally flawed attempts to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syria and Haiti.

The eventual ruling could potentially affect not only hundreds of thousands of TPS holders from Haiti and Syria, but also 1.3 million individuals from all 17 TPS countries who live in the United States, as the government is asking to make TPS decision-making unreviewable by the court system. Together, these cancellations reflect the largest “de-documentation” event in U.S. history — stripping legal status and work authorization from people who are relying on this protection because their countries are unsafe.

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Case History

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Muslim Advocates, and Van Der Hout LLP are representing plaintiffs in the class action suit around the Syrian TPS case Dahlia Doe v. Mullin, originally filed in October 2025. The ACLU of Northern California has joined the case as co-counsel.

• On March 16, 2026, the Supreme Court deferred the Trump administration’s request to stay a lower court ruling postponing the termination of TPS for Syria and granted the administration’s request for certiorari before judgment, allowing the government to bypass the normal course of briefing and argument before the United States Court of Appeals.
• In its order, the Supreme Court consolidated two separate lawsuits challenging the termination of TPS for Syria (Mullin v. Dahlia Doe) and Haiti (Trump v. Miot).

For an in-depth overview of the legal background and timeline of the Syria TPS case, see here or contact IRAP (see below) to discuss with litigation leaders.

For a deeper dive on the Haiti TPS case, visit HERE or contact Citlaly Mora: citlalymora13@gmail.com

About Syrian TPS Plaintiffs

The class action suit Dahlia Doe v. Noem was filed by IRAP, Muslim Advocates, and Van Der Hout LLP on behalf of individuals and families that would be affected by the Trump administration’s attempt to render nearly 6,100 Syrian TPS holders undocumented by ending TPS. An additional 800 Syrians with pending TPS applications could also be subjected to immigration detention and possible deportation to a country where there is an ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis. Syrian TPS holders include healthcare professionals, students, teachers, journalists, and entrepreneurs living in communities across the country. Stripping their legal status would throw thousands of lives into limbo – disrupting families, destabilizing communities, and causing widespread economic harm.

• Plaintiffs in the case include seven Syrian nationals with TPS or pending applications for TPS who are directly impacted by the possible termination. Individual plaintiffs have planted roots in the United States, with extensive family, professional, and educational networks. In addition to immediately losing work authorization and the ability to support themselves and their families, they risk deportation to a country still experiencing intense armed conflict as well as dire humanitarian conditions (read the plaintiffs’ briefing HERE).
• About Dahlia Doe: Plaintiff Dahlia Doe is a Syrian national and TPS holder who has lived in the United States since 2015 and currently resides in New York. She works as a research director and is the primary caregiver for her elderly U.S. permanent resident father, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. A forced relocation to Syria would separate her from her father and other family members and put her in an unsafe country, where she has never lived, has no immediate family ties, and would be exposed to potential targeting as a Syrian Christian religious minority.
• In December 2025, the U.S. government added Syria to its expanded travel ban and paused decisions on all pending immigration applications for Syrians; so in addition to attempting to strip the lawful immigration status from Syrian TPS holders, the government has placed Syrian TPS holders in an impossible situation by preventing them from being able to obtain other immigration status or benefits.

Dangerous Conditions in Syria

The U.S. government describes that a country may be designated for TPS when in-country conditions “prevent the country's nationals from returning safely.” IRAP’s December 2025 report on country conditions in Syria, “A Year Later, Resettlement of Syrian Refugees Remains an Urgent Priority,” underscores the reality that Syria clearly meets that threshold.

• Ongoing clashes, service gaps, damaged infrastructure, and protection risks continue to make returns unfeasible, and threaten to throw returns into “renewed displacementˮ and “renewed humanitarian crises.”
• Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), especially directed against women and girls, remains a serious risk in Syria, as do landmines and explosive remnants of over a decade of war. The recent and ongoing escalation of violence and instability in the Middle East only compounds these points.
• Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s December 2025 expanded travel ban includes language that makes clear the dangers of forcing Syria TPS holders back to the nation.

The current reporting of dire conditions on the ground in Syria contradicts the government’s termination decision, which was carried out without adherence to the specific procedures and statutory requirements the government is obligated to follow in order to terminate TPS – a pattern that has been repeated across the termination of TPS for 13 countries.

What’s at stake is both a legal and moral question for the Supreme Court and America: Will our country expel people working and contributing here in order to send them back to countries that our own government and outside observers say are dangerous?

• Part of a larger anti-immigrant agenda: The Haiti and Syria TPS terminations are part of the Trump administration’s larger campaign to strip away existing legal status from several million individuals and to subject them to potential deportation.
• Administration seeking to end TPS entirely: President Trump campaigned on ending TPS, and his administration has terminated TPS for every country that has come up for review, regardless of the actual conditions in those countries. These decisions were not based on facts, country conditions, or the law, but were predetermined by a desire to end the entire TPS program created by Congress. The Trump administration is now asking SCOTUS to make TPS decisions unreviewable by the court system – one of the potential outcomes after the April 29th hearing.
• Clear racial, and racist, implications: On the heels of the birthright citizenship case at SCOTUS and in light of this administration's long pattern of dehumanizing and violent rhetoric against Black and other immigrants of color, the racial and racist overtones and implications of these cases are clear and disturbing.

IRAP | Spencer Tilger, media@refugeerights.org

Muslim Advocates | Nargis Aslami | nargis@muslimadvocates.org

ACLU of Northern CA | press@aclunc.org