The Supreme Court lets Trump deport people back to war zones

Trump’s administration may ignore procedural rules governing many of the most endangered people in America.

The Supreme Court held on Thursday that the Trump administration may ignore procedural rules governing the “temporary protected status” (TPS) program, which allows foreign nationals from war torn or otherwise unsafe countries to temporarily remain in the United States until their home nation stabilizes.

The decision in Mullin v. Doe was handed down along party lines, with all six Republicans joining Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion, and all three Democrats joining Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent.

Get the latest developments on the US Supreme Court from senior correspondent Ian Millhiser.

Federal law permits the Department of Homeland Security to offer temporary protected status to noncitizens who are present in the United States when an “armed conflict,” natural disaster, or some other catastrophe makes their home country unsafe. Temporary protected status is supposed to be, well, temporary. So DHS must periodically review the list of countries whose nationals may seek protected status, and remove countries from the list once the crisis in those nations abates. People with TPS may also work in the United States while they are lawfully present.

The Trump administration, however, is hostile to this program and has thus far removed TPS designations for all 13 countries that have come up for review. President Donald Trump also issued an executive order calling on his cabinet to ensure that TPS designations “are appropriately limited in scope and made for only so long as may be necessary to fulfill the textual requirements of that statute.”

Mullin v. Doe concerned the Trump administration’s decision to strip TPS from Syrians and Haitians living in the United States. Syrians previously had TPS status because of a civil war that ousted its president in 2024. Haitians had TPS........

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