The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to help the authorities' efforts to end protections from deportation for about 6,000 Syrians living in the United States, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The Justice Department urgently asked the Supreme Court to overturn a November ruling that blocked the administration's attempt to end temporary protected status for Syrians while a legal appeal against that measure continues.
This is the third time the administration has approached the Supreme Court regarding its efforts to end protections provided under the migrant program. The court also sided with the administration in two previous cases involving the revocation of temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.
Temporary protected status is a humanitarian status under U.S. law for migrants from countries affected by war, natural disasters or other catastrophes. This status protects people who receive it from deportation and allows them to work in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has taken action to end this protected status for 12 countries, including Syria. Such lawsuits have led to court rulings that currently block the end of protected status for people from countries such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Haiti, Syria and Myanmar.
Protected status for Syrians was initially granted in 2012 during President Barack Obama’s administration after a civil war erupted in Syria.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noam, a Republican presidential appointee, announced in September that Syria’s temporary protected status would be terminated, noting that the situation there “no longer meets the criteria for an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Syrian citizens.”
In November, Judge Catherine Polk Faila in Manhattan blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary protected status for Syrians. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on February 17 refused to stay that ruling.
The Justice Department said in its filing that lower courts had ignored previous Supreme Court rulings on cases related to temporary protected status for Venezuelans and suggested that the Supreme Court should take over and hear arguments in the case because of the “persistent disregard” of the Supreme Court’s actions.
The administration has said the program has been overused and that many migrants no longer deserve protection. Democrats and migrant advocates have said that people with such status could be forced back into dangerous conditions and that U.S. employers rely on their labor.