THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION now has a path to end protections for thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants living in Massachusetts, after the US Supreme Court on Thursday issued a ruling that state officials warned would rip at the state’s health care workforce and separate families who have spent years building lives in the Commonwealth.
In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration was free to revoke Temporary Protected Status protections for immigrants from any country. The decision tosses rulings from lower courts that had kept protections in place for more than a year following the administration’s order ending TPS for immigrants from Haiti and Syria.
The response from Massachusetts officials and immigrant advocates was swift and outraged.
“We are issue issuing a death sentence to so many who have come to call this country home, whose children speak no other language than English,” said Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, at a State House press conference of officials after the ruling.
“I mourn alongside our Haitian TPS holders, our Syrian TPS holders, and the impact that this will have on people from 15 other countries who have TPS,” she said. “We have a State Department that has issued a ‘do not travel’ warning to Haiti, and yet they think it is safe or OK to detain and deport 350,000 Haitians, many of whom have been here since the devastating earthquake in 2010. Make it make sense, because it does not.”
Five Haitian citizens with TPS sued in federal court in Washington, DC, asserting that the termination attempt did not follow proper procedures and violated the constitutional right to equal protection because it was motivated by race.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the law allows “no judicial review” of any presidential administration’s termination of TPS designation. He also rejected the claim of a race motive in the Trump administration’s order.
The White House called the ruling a victory. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told CNN that the decision affirmed what Trump “has always maintained: temporary protected status is, by definition, temporary” and “was never intended to be a pathway to permanent status or legal residency.”
Massachusetts has one of the largest Haitian populations in the country, with more than 45,000 Haitian TPS holders in the state, according to Attorney General Andrea Campbell. These residents are part of the estimated 350,000 Haitian TPS holders and 6,100 Syrian TPS holders across the country.
“This decision will have severe consequences in Massachusetts, where thousands of TPS holders fill critical roles in our healthcare and elder care industries,” Campbell said in a statement. “It will also put lives at risk by forcing families to return to countries experiencing violence, instability, and humanitarian crisis.”
She assured TPS holders and their families that this decision does not take effect immediately. The TPS status change will begin when the Supreme Court formally issues its judgment in the next few days or weeks. The Department of Homeland Security’s implementation timeline remains unknown, Campbell said.
The case now returns to the district court, but the lower court cannot consider the procedural objections, and the Supreme Court has determined that the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail on constitutional claims, Campbell noted. While the lower court considers the case again, she said, there are no protections in place for those suddenly without TPS.
Gov. Maura Healey called the decision “cruel and harmful,” saying it would hurt “immigrant families, our communities, and our economy.”
“Donald Trump is ripping away protections from families and children who have fled devastating earthquakes, violence and other humanitarian crises to build safe, productive lives here in Massachusetts and across the country,” Healey said in a statement. “These are people who are raising families, paying taxes, caring for our loved ones, opening businesses and filling critical jobs.”
The TPS program, created by Congress in 1990 to provide humanitarian relief for people who cannot safely return to their home countries, has faced repeated challenges during Trump’s presidencies.
The Obama administration designated Haiti as a TPS country in 2010, after a massive earthquake killed more than 300,000 people and caused catastrophic damage. Syria was designated two years later, after a crackdown by former dictator Bashar al-Assad against anti-government protesters.
Both designations were repeatedly extended until last year, when then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the administration planned to end the policy for Syria and Haiti, saying conditions in the countries had improved.
A Washington-based federal judge blocked the move in February, finding that the Haiti termination was likely motivated by racial animus. District Judge Ana Reyes pointed to statements from Trump — including calling Haiti a “shithole country” and suggesting Haitians “probably have AIDS” — as well as Noem’s social media posts.
Alito, in today’s ruling, rejected that argument, writing that there is a “strong” race-neutral explanation: the Trump administration “has terminated every TPS designation that has come up for renewal” and “simply opposes the TPS program, at least as it has been implemented in the past.”
“None of the cited statements by either the President or the Secretary was overtly racial,” he wrote, “and in substance all expressed policy views that could rest on race-neutral justifications.”
In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the plaintiffs “deserve better than today’s decision,” arguing there was “no dispute” that they would suffer irreparable harm without an order postponing the terminations.
Massachusetts officials and civil rights advocates said the ruling’s impact would be felt acutely in the state’s health care sector. Haitian TPS holders have played a significant role filling frontline health care and home health aide positions in Massachusetts, even as immigration enforcement has already begun thinning that workforce.
Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said the court “ignored the blatant racism that has always motivated this administration’s horrific treatment of Haitians, including the decision to revoke Temporary Protected Status.”
“To the people impacted by this decision: You still have rights, including the right to due process in immigration proceedings,” Rose said.
Healey echoed that message.
“While we can’t control the federal administration, we can control how Massachusetts shows up,” she said in a press conference after the ruling. “Massachusetts will not turn our back on families who built their lives here in our great state.”
The Healey administration worked with Campbell’s office on a resource page with information on how families can access community support, legal assistance like the Massachusetts Access to Council initiative, and other resources. The state is partnering with United Way to raise resources for impacted families “to ensure that they can access basic needs for things such as housing, food, health care, and child care,” Healey said.
Just two weeks ago, the governor recalled, they celebrated on Beacon Hill with the Haitian national soccer team, which was in Boston for the World Cup. Frantzdy Pierrot, who moved from Haiti to Massachusetts when he was 11, described how it was too unsafe for the team to train in their own country.
Thursday’s ruling goes further than an earlier order that allowed the administration to end TPS for Venezuelans, because it establishes that the homeland security secretary can terminate TPS designations without the possibility of judicial review.
The administration has sought to rescind TPS protections for 13 of the 17 countries currently designated, putting immigrants from those countries at risk of losing work authorization and facing deportation.
The Trump administration has taken direct shots at Boston’s policy limiting cooperation with federal immigration officials. Mayor Michelle Wu said the city expected something like this to hit, but it didn’t blunt the shock of the decision.
“Today, our Haitian and Syrian neighbors, friends, coworkers, and family members are hearing a message from the highest court in this country – which they have weathered tremendous struggle and sacrifice to fight to become a part of – that because they were born in certain places around the world, their futures are somehow less worthy of protection,” Wu said. “That is as un-American as it gets. To our Haitian and Syrian residents, to our immigrant community members, to all of Boston who cares right now for the city that we are: You belong here.”
