Mullin v. Dahlia Doe

On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Mullin v. Dahlia Doe, a case challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Syrian immigrants living and working legally in the United States. The case could affect the future of the entire TPS program, which has been a target of the Trump administration and its openly racist mass deportation agenda.

TPS is a program established by Congress in 1990 to protect individuals who cannot safely return to their home country due to war, natural disaster, or other emergencies. TPS holders are mothers, fathers, workers, and contributing members of their communities. They rely on this humanitarian protection regime for safety.

The Supreme Court’s ruling will impact not only Syrian TPS holders but will also affect whether the Trump administration can move forward with its actions seeking to strip legal status from many others. There are 1.3 million individuals from 17 countries designated for TPS. At the time the Supreme Court will be hearing this case, the Trump administration has terminated TPS for 13 countries—despite ongoing wars and undisputed humanitarian crises.

Alongside our co-counsel the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Muslim Advocates, and Van Der Hout LLP, the ACLU of Northern California represents seven Syrian nationals with TPS or pending applications in Mullin v. Dahlia Doe, a class action lawsuit originally filed in October 2025. Cancelling TPS designation for Syria would subject nearly 6,100 Syrian TPS holders, along with 800 Syrians with pending applications, to immigrant detention and possible deportation to an unsafe country.

The plaintiffs argue that the DHS Secretary does not have the legal authority to unilaterally override the TPS statute enacted by Congress, and that it is the role of the judiciary to review the government’s legally dubious actions.

On September 22, 2025, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem terminated TPS for approximately 7,000 Syrians. She did so despite the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security recognizing that the armed conflict and humanitarian crisis in Syria make it unsafe. Syrian TPS holders challenged this termination decision and a district court put it on hold while the case proceeds. However, the Supreme Court took the extraordinary decision to review this case on the merits without basic fact gathering or a final decision from a lower court or court of appeal.

In March 2026, the Supreme Court chose not to rule on the Trump administration’s request to immediately end legal status and work authorization for Haitian and Syrian TPS holders, allowing the ruling of the lower court to remain in effect. Instead, they chose to fast-track Mullin v. Dahlia Doe and combine it with a separate lawsuit, Trump v. Miot, that similarly challenges the termination of TPS for Haiti. Both cases will be heard at the Supreme Court on April 29, 2026.

The ACLU of Northern California also represents TPS holders in two other cases: NTPSA I v. Noem, challenging the TPS terminations of Venezuela and Haiti, and NTPSA II v. Noem, challenging the TPS terminations of Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua.