The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that President Donald Trump may proceed with revoking the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) granted to hundreds of thousands of border crossers, protections that were unilaterally extended by former President Joe Biden.
The decision came in response to an emergency application filed by the Trump administration, effectively allowing the White House to reverse Biden’s executive action. The TPS protections—granted by the Biden administration without congressional approval—had provided recipients with expedited pathways to citizenship and work authorization.
The programs saw rapid expansion under the Biden administration, which played an active role in transporting and resettling millions of foreign nationals within the United States.
Many of those affected by the termination were flown directly into the country through a program known as CHNV, which was discontinued shortly after President Trump took office on January 20. According to Biden administration officials, the initiative aimed to reduce illegal crossings at the southern border by offering prospective asylum seekers a legal pathway to enter the U.S. directly.
That claim appears to have lacked merit, as encounters at the southern border have dropped to record lows even without the parole program in place.
In Monday’s brief order, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted that she would have denied the application. However, the Court’s two other liberal justices joined all six conservatives in siding with the Trump administration, allowing the matter to proceed through the lower courts.
The case before the Supreme Court centered on a TPS designation issued in October 2023 and extended in January, just before President Trump took office. That designation is currently set to expire in October 2026. In February, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved to accelerate the rollback, aiming to end the protections this year. However, the effort was blocked by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in California, who argued the decision was racially motivated.
In an emergency application to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer contended that the lower court failed to properly evaluate Noem’s order.
“The court’s order contravenes fundamental executive branch prerogatives and indefinitely delays sensitive policy decisions in an area of immigration policy that Congress recognized must be flexible, fast-paced and discretionary,” he argued. Monday’s ruling clears the way for the deportation of hundreds of thousands of migrants from countries including Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and others.
