Statement from the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) on SCOTUS Decision on Temporary Protected Status

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2026       
CONTACT: press@ilapmaine.org    

Maine – On June 25, the Supreme Court issued a ruling paving the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 people from Haiti and Syria, which has implications for all TPS holders. 

ILAP’s Executive Director, Sue Roche, issued the following statement: 

“TPS, created by Congress in 1990, provides life-saving, humanitarian protection to people who are already in the United States when safe return home becomes impossible. People from TPS designated countries are safeguarded from deportation and can gain work authorization to support themselves and their families while the designations are in place. Like the U.S. asylum and refugee resettlement programs, TPS is rooted in the promises this country made in the aftermath of World War II to never again return people to countries where their lives or freedom would be at risk. 

Approximately 1.3 million people in the United States are shielded from life-threatening conditions through TPS, including at least hundreds of people in Maine. Many people have lived with TPS protection for years and decades, raising families, working essential jobs in our workforce, and becoming indispensable parts of our communities. 

The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda is without question, and it has systematically attacked TPS and TPS holders. This decision by the Supreme Court paves the way for the administration to strip lawful status away from Haitian, Syrian, and all TPS holders in Maine and across the country, for families to be ripped apart, and for businesses to lose their workers.  

Congress designed the law so that TPS could be extended and redesignated as many times as needed to protect human life. While TPS is a key protection in the overall humanitarian immigration system, there should be a path to permanent legal status and citizenship for those who cannot return home. It is Congress’ job to create those pathways, and it has failed to act for too many years.    

This SCOTUS decision comes at a time of unprecedented actions targeted at immigrants and will only exacerbate the administration’s mass deportation campaign. ILAP calls on the Senate to immediately pass S. 4814 which would designate TPS for Haiti, and we call on Congress to respond with a pathway to citizenship for all TPS holders, DACA recipients, and undocumented people who call this country home.”