Trump asks Supreme Court to remove immigration protections for thousands of Syrians
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for clearance to end legal protections that let almost 7, 000 Syrians temporarily live and work in the US without risk of deportation, a move that shifts the dispute back to the nation's highest tribunal. In an emergency filing, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said a federal district judge in New York overstepped by blocking the administration from ending so-called Temporary Protected Status for Syrians, and the fight is now before the supreme court.
Kristi Noem filed an emergency application on Thursday
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem submitted an emergency application filed Thursday seeking immediate relief from the Supreme Court. In that filing, Noem argued that a federal district judge in New York had overstepped by issuing an order that prevented the administration from ending the protections for Syrians.
Protections cover almost 7, 000 Syrians who live and work in the US
The legal protections at issue are the so-called Temporary Protected Status designation that has allowed almost 7, 000 Syrians to temporarily live and work in the US without risk of deportation. The administration's request asks the supreme authority to clear the way for ending that designation and the related employment and removal shields that Syrians now hold.
Request mirrors two applications to end TPS for Venezuelans
The application for Syrians is similar to two applications the administration filed seeking to end Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans. The high court granted those two applications last year, a sequence of decisions some critics describe as part of the court's shadow docket.
New York ruling blocked the administration from ending TPS
The emergency filing centers on a New York federal district judge's order that blocked the administration from ending the Syrian TPS designation. Noem's submission to the Supreme Court contends that the district judge overstepped in issuing that blocking order and asks the court to allow the administration to lift the protections.
What the petition asks the Supreme Court to decide
The petition asks the Supreme Court to swiftly decide whether the administration may end the so-called Temporary Protected Status that shields almost 7, 000 Syrians from deportation and permits them to work. It frames the immediate question as whether the New York federal district judge's block should remain in place while litigation continues, pointing to the prior handling of two applications concerning Venezuelans that the high court granted last year.
