(UNITED STATES) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 25, 2026, in Mullin v. Doe, that the executive branch has full discretion to terminate Temporary Protected Status designations, clearing the way for the administration to end TPS for Haiti and Syria.

The 6-3 decision gives the Department of Homeland Security broad authority over the program and places those termination decisions largely beyond judicial review. DHS quickly treated the ruling as a green light for a harder line on Temporary Protected Status.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said current TPS holders should either secure permanent legal status or prepare to leave the United States. On June 28, 2026, Mullin framed the choice in blunt terms.

“Temporary Protective Status, according to the courts and in its name itself, is not permanent status. It was never intended to be permanent,” Mullin said. He added: “Either try to fill out the paperwork and be here underneath a permanent status or we’ll help you get back to your country.”

James Percival, DHS general counsel, welcomed the ruling in a department release dated June 25, 2026. “These three rulings are all victories for the rule of law and common sense. [reaffirming] that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was always supposed to be temporary and can be cancelled at the appropriate time,” Percival said.

The immediate effect falls on two national groups identified in the case materials and department statements: approximately 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians. After a standard 32-day implementation period for the court order, they face the loss of work authorization and protection from deportation.

Those numbers anchor what had long been a program of repeated extensions. Previous administrations often renewed TPS designations for years, citing continuing instability in home countries; the current administration has argued that repeated renewals turned a temporary program into a de facto permanent one.

The court’s ruling in Mullin v. Doe reaches beyond the Haiti and Syria designations. By holding that the executive branch has full discretion to end TPS and that such decisions generally are not subject to judicial review, the justices sharply narrowed the room for lower courts to block future terminations.

DHS paired that legal victory with a public message aimed at departure. Mullin said the government would finance travel home and provide cash assistance on arrival. “We’ll actually give you a plane ticket, plus roughly $2,100 to help you re-establish when you get there,” he said.

The department is promoting the CBP Home app as the channel for voluntary departure, which DHS describes as self-deportation. Under the program, migrants who choose to leave can register through the app and receive a government-funded flight and the re-establishment stipend Mullin described.

At the same time, the administration has tightened its reading of how TPS holders can stay lawfully through another route. A USCIS policy memo dated May 22, 2026, said adjustment of status, obtaining a green card, is a “matter of discretion and administrative grace.”

That memo directs that people in the United States on temporary status should generally return to their home countries and seek permanent residency through consular processing, rather than adjust status inside the United States. It carves out an exception for “extraordinary circumstances.”

That distinction matters for TPS holders who have lived in the United States for years, built families, and worked legally under the program. Seeking permanent residency is not presented as an automatic path; it remains discretionary, and for many people it would require leaving the country first.

Many affected families now face choices with immediate practical consequences. Once termination takes effect after the 32-day period, work permits tied to TPS end, and deportation protection ends with them.

In households with mixed immigration status, the pressure reaches beyond the TPS beneficiary. Many holders have U.S.-citizen children and long-term ties in American communities, leaving parents to weigh relocation to countries still marked by instability against separation from relatives who remain in the United States.

Economic concerns have also entered the debate. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine warned that removing TPS holders, particularly Haitians, could deepen labor shortages in sectors such as healthcare and nursing homes.

The administration has answered those concerns by returning to the statutory label. Mullin’s public comments and Percival’s statement both rested on the same premise: TPS was designed as a temporary form of protection, not a route to permanent residence.

That argument now carries the force of a Supreme Court ruling. The decision in Mullin v. Doe leaves the DHS secretary with near-total authority over whether TPS designations continue, and it strips away one of the main legal tools that beneficiaries and advocacy groups had used to slow or stop terminations.

People affected by the Haiti and Syria terminations now have a short calendar. The court ruled on June 25, 2026; Mullin publicly outlined the administration’s position on June 28, 2026; and the countdown toward termination runs through the standard 32-day implementation period.

Government guidance on the program remains posted through the USCIS Temporary Protected Status overview, while the department’s post-ruling position appears in the DHS news release. The court’s decision is available in the Supreme Court opinion in Mullin v. Doe, and DHS directs people considering departure to information tied to the CBP Home app.

For Haitians and Syrians whose status depends on TPS, those documents now define the next steps: pursue a discretionary permanent immigration path, prepare for consular processing abroad, or accept government-assisted departure with a plane ticket and roughly $2,100 to start over.