Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow it to end deportation protections for Syrian immigrants

Washington — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to end temporary deportation protections for thousands of Syrian immigrants living in the U.S.

Washington — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to end temporary deportation protections for thousands of Syrian immigrants living in the U.S.

In a request for emergency relief, the Justice Department urged the high court to lift a lower court order that postponed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's termination of Temporary Protected Status designation for Syria, which was set to take effect last November.

The U.S. district court in New York ruled that Noem's termination of the program for Syria likely violated federal law and found her decision to strip Syrians of their legal protections likely rested on "political influence." A federal appeals court declined to pause that decision.

In the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit "indefensible" and said it flouts two earlier Supreme Court orders involving similar terminations of deportation protections for Venezuelans. Following those decisions from the high court, other appeals courts have allowed the Trump administration to end temporary protections for migrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Congress created the program known as TPS in 1990 to provide temporary immigration protections for migrants from countries beset by wars, natural disasters or other "extraordinary and temporary" conditions that make it dangerous for deportees to return. Migrants from a country designated for TPS generally cannot be removed from the U.S. and are authorized to work for the length of the designation, which can last for up to 18 months and be extended.