Supreme Court to hear arguments over Trump’s push to end migrant protections
The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear arguments about the Trump administration’s efforts to end legal protections for people fleeing from Haiti, Syria and other countries ravaged by war and natural disasters, The Associated Press reported.
The court agreed to hear the case after the Department of Justice appealed a lower court’s ruling. That ruling delayed the end of legal protections that allowed migrants with temporary protected status to live and work in the U.S. For some, that temporary status has stretched across several years.
By agreeing to hear the case, the Supreme Court delayed any change in temporary protected status until after it hears the case in the next few weeks. The court’s action affects an estimated 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,000 from Syria.
Previously, the court allowed the administration to end legal protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela.
According to the AP, the U.S. has granted about 1.3 million people fleeing war or natural disasters temporary protected status. Federal immigration authorities say conditions in these countries have improved and are asking for a broad ruling that would bar courts from stepping in when Homeland Security decides to end immigration programs.
The administration received two court wins on Monday. Before the Supreme Court announced its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit issued a 2-1 ruling allowing the Trump administration to continue to deport migrants to countries they aren’t affiliated with, The Hill reports.
The decision lifts limits imposed on the White House’s immigration policy by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy. He required the administration to try first and remove migrants to a country where they have citizenship. If immigration authorities can’t, then they can send a migrant illegally in the U.S. to a third country.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
