Trump administration criticizes court rulings slowing immigration agenda
in Supreme Court appeal
[March 10, 2026]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is criticizing lower court
judges who have slowed its efforts to strip legal protections from a
broad swath of migrants living in the U.S. It's asking the Supreme Court
to clear the way for moves that could expose thousands more people to
deportation.
The Justice Department wants a broad ruling that would let it move more
quickly to end legal protections for migrants from multiple countries,
including Haiti and Syria, according to a letter sent to the high court
on Monday.
The Trump administration argues that the federal government has the
authority to end temporary protected status as it sees fit, without
intervention from the courts.
But lower courts have disagreed, including a judge in Washington D.C.
that found “hostility to nonwhite immigrants" likely played a role in
the decision to end protections for Haitians. An appeals court upheld
the decision.
The Supreme Court, though, has sided with the Trump administration on
the issue before, allowing the termination of protections for hundreds
of thousands of Venezuelans to proceed amid litigation. It was part of a
series of wins for Trump on the Supreme Court’s short-term emergency
docket that have allowed him to move ahead with key parts of his agenda.
Now the administration is asking for a ruling finding that courts can't
question the Department of Homeland Security moves that come amid a
wider mass deportation effort.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the lower-court judges have shown
“persistent disregard” for the court's earlier emergency-docket
decisions, part of a cycle that looks "likely to repeat again and again
unless and until this Court steps in.”
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He appealed a ruling keeping protections for Syrian immigrants last
month, and said Monday he plans to appeal another decision affecting
about 350,000 Haitians.
A group of more than 175 former judges has also weighed in, arguing
that emergency-docket rulings are not settled law and the court
should allow the normal appeals process to play out.
The protections for Haitians were first granted in 2010 after a
catastrophic earthquake and has been extended multiple times. The
country is still racked by gang violence that has displaced hundreds
of thousands of people.
Homeland Security says that conditions have improved and denied
racial animus played a role. Attorneys for the Haitian migrants,
though, say “people will almost certainly die” if the Trump
administration ends the program.
Temporary protected status can be granted by the Homeland Security
secretary if conditions in home countries are deemed unsafe for
return due to a natural disaster, political instability or other
dangers. It is granted in 18-month increments and does not provide a
legal pathway to citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security has also terminated protections
for about 600,000 Venezuelans, 6,100 Syrians, 60,000 people from
Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal, more than 160,000 Ukrainians and
thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon.
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