The Justice Department’s emergency appeal comes as the administration expands its broader immigration crackdown, a pattern that could affect other temporary protected status recipients across the country.
The request arrives as the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has already allowed the administration to end protections for Venezuelan migrants while lawsuits continue, signaling a potential shift in how the courts view executive authority over humanitarian immigration programs.
If the Court grants the administration’s request, the 6,100 Syrians currently protected under TPS could lose their legal right to work and face possible deportation, heightening the humanitarian stakes of the administration’s policy agenda.
The Justice Department filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking relief from a New York district judge’s injunction that halted the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to end temporary protected status for Syrian migrants. The filing requests that the Court allow the agency to move forward while related lawsuits proceed.
Temporary protected status, a humanitarian immigration designation created by Congress in 1990, was first granted to Syrians in 2012 after the country’s civil war erupted. Since then, about 6,100 Syrians have received TPS, allowing them to live and work legally in the United States. Roughly 800 of those individuals have pending applications for renewal.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the revocation of Syrian TPS less than a year after the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government in late 2024, stating that the situation “no longer meets the criteria for an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Syrian nationals.” The administration argues that the agency has the authority to grant or end TPS without judicial interference.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla, a nominee of President Obama, granted a temporary pause on the termination in November, and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left her decision untouched. The Justice Department’s petition asks the Supreme Court to overrule the lower‑court order and grant the administration a broader ruling that could affect other TPS cases.
The administration’s request follows a recent Supreme Court decision that allowed the government to end TPS for Venezuelan migrants while related litigation continues. Legal experts note that the Court’s conservative majority has signaled willingness to give the executive branch more latitude in immigration matters.
If the Court grants the petition, Syrian TPS holders would lose their legal work authorization and could face deportation, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project. The agency’s move is part of a wider immigration crackdown that also targets Haitians, Haitians, and other groups with TPS designations. A response to the administration’s appeal is due by March 4.