The Supreme Court on Thursday handed Donald Trump two rare wins in a huge victory for his hardline immigration agenda.
The Court cleared the way for Trump to revoke temporary protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian nationals living in the United States – siding with the President on one of the most closely watched and consequential immigration cases this term.
And the Justices also decided to give Trump more authority to limit asylum seekers in the US coming from Mexico.
In Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the high court ruled 6-3 to grant Trump administration’s request to revive a controversial ‘metering’ policy that allows federal immigration officers to turn away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.
Justices ruled along ideological lines that migrants seeking refuge do not ‘arrive’ in the country by ‘attempting, and failing, to step foot’ in the United States – clearing the way for the administration to restart its so-called ‘turn back’ policy.
And in Mullin v. Doe, justices decided that courts do not have the power to review the constitutionality over TPS designations. The ruling permits Trump to end such protections for Syrian and Haitian nationals.
Combined, the rulings represent a significant victory for the Trump administration as it seeks to implement the President’s hardline immigration enforcement agenda, including for asylum seekers.
US Solicitor General D John Sauer had urged the high court to enforce the asylum policy, describing it as a ‘critical tool for addressing border surges.’
US President Donald Trump is seen in France. The Supreme Court sided with Trump Thursday on a major immigration case centered on temporary protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants living in the US
The Supreme Court building in Washington, DC
The Supreme Court justices are seen posing for a group portrait. Justices sided with the Trump administration 6-3 on two major immigration and asylum cases
Immigration protesters outside the Supreme Court
Justices ruled in both cases along ideological lines, and, in a rare move, Justice Sonia Sotomayor responded to the asylum case by reading aloud a summary of her dissent from the bench.
The Supreme Court in March agreed to review the Trump administration’s bid to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) status for more than 350,000 Haitian recipients and roughly 7,000 Syrian recipients living in the United States.
But they declined at the time to grant the administration’s request to stay a lower court order that would allow them to immediately halt TPS designations for the migrants in question.
That detail is expected to put outsize weight on Thursday’s ruling, which could make hundreds of thousands of individuals in US suddenly eligible for deportation, including many who have been living and working in the country legally for years.
TPS protesters are seen outside the US supreme Court
President Donald Trump shakes hands with US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
President Donald Trump dances on stage
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters during a news conference
It also comes as the Trump administration has moved to unwind TPS designations for individuals from at least 13 countries since the start of his second term last January, and the high court ruling likely clears the way for Trump to undo TPS protections for other migrants living in the US under the program as well.
TPS grants individuals from certain countries temporary legal status to live and work in the United States if they cannot return to their home countries due to natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary circumstances.
Haiti was first granted TPS status in 2010, following a devastating earthquake that killed more than 200,000 individuals in the country and left some 1.5 million individuals in the country homeless.
Syria, for its part, was granted status in the throes of the country’s civil war.
Thursday’s opinion day comes as the high court races to issue remaining decisions on major cases before the end of its term, which officially ends in June.
Justices have yet to rule on some of the most consequential cases reviewed this term, including President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook and end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S.
Those cases are among the most closely watched this term — though the court appeared deeply skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments in both cases.
Thursday’s opinion day, however, is likely to be touted by the Trump administration as a major victory — and one that allows the President to proceed with some of his get-tough immigration policies.
Members of the Supreme Court are seen at the US Capitol in 2026 before President Trump’s ‘State of the Union’ address
Displaced Syrians are pictured in a region of northwest Syria in a 2020 file photo. Almost one million Syrians fled their homes the previous winter during a Russian-backed offensive
A group of Haitians waits to cross the border between Dominican Republic and Haiti in Dajabon
The case ‘presents a straightforward question’: whether someone is considered having ‘arrived’ to the US must while still at the US-Mexico border, or when they are physically present in the United States, Justice Samuel Alito said, writing for the majority for Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the asylum case.
‘The Court today holds that the Executive Branch may circumvent all these mandatory procedures by having US immigration officers stand at the border and physically block noncitizens from setting a foot onto U.S. soil,’ Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent, easily one of the most scathing that was penned this term.
‘They may do so even if the asylum seeker is at the threshold of a port of entry designated to receive all noncitizens who seek entrance into the country,’ Sotomayor continued. ‘Even if the port of entry has ample capacity to inspect that person, including an available asylum officer trained to process asylum applications. Even if the asylum seeker is certain to be persecuted, or killed, if she is turned away.’
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
