Supreme Court Greenlights Trump’s Assault on TPS and Asylum Seekers
Washington, D.C. — Today, the Supreme Court issued two devastating rulings that represent a sweeping attack on immigrant communities. In Mullin v. Doe, the Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants, meaning the administration can take away their lawful status. In Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, it affirmed President Trump’s policy of turning away asylum seekers at the border. Voto Latino condemns both decisions in the strongest possible terms.
The Court upheld Trump’s efforts to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from nearly 356,000 immigrants and this decision is likely to impact all 1.3 million TPS holders, who have been living and working in the U.S. for decades. These are families who have built their lives in the United States, raised U.S.-citizen children, paid taxes, and contributed to their communities. The administration continues to take away lawful status from immigrants without providing real immigration solutions.
In Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the Court enables border officials to turn back migrants before they can physically cross the border from Mexico into the U.S., preventing them from making an asylum claim.
Justice Sotomayor read her dissent aloud from the bench, discussing the power of the administration to turn away asylum seekers:
“Even if the asylum seeker is certain to be persecuted, or killed, if she is turned away.”
Beatriz Lopez, Executive Director of Voto Latino, issued the following statement:
“Today is a dark day for our democracy. With these two rulings, the Supreme Court has once again handed this administration powerful tools to inflict lasting harm on immigrant communities. One strips hundreds of thousands of people of the legal protections they have built their lives around, deeming working families undocumented and in the crosshairs of Trump’s reckless deportation agenda. The other closes the door on families fleeing violence and persecution, forcing them back into danger after undertaking long and perilous journeys to reach safety.
The Court’s opinions are not a coincidence or isolated decision-making. It’s once again the Supreme Court greenlighting the Trump administration’s most extreme, cruel and costly policies, step by step, at the direct expense of vulnerable communities. As we mark Immigrant Heritage Month, we cannot ignore what this moment represents: an ongoing dismantling of protections in real time. Voto Latino will not stay silent. We will fight to protect TPS holders, restore asylum protections, and hold accountable those driving this agenda of fear and exclusion.”
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Voto Latino is a civic advocacy organization dedicated to educating and empowering the next generation of Latino voters while working to build a more inclusive and representative democracy. Since its founding, Voto Latino has registered over two million voters. In 2024, the organization took legal action to protect voting rights, filing multiple lawsuits in Texas, Arizona, and North Carolina to safeguard access to the ballot ahead of the elections.