US Ends Temporary Protected Status for Syrians, Urges Beneficiaries to Depart - Sarmad
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that the decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syrians has entered into force, urging beneficiaries who lack legal status to depart under threat of deportation.
In a statement issued yesterday, the department clarified that Syria has joined Haiti, Yemen, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nepal, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia in the list of countries where the termination of TPS for their citizens is now in effect.
Previously, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that Syria’s designation under the TPS program would end on July 27, 2026, confirming that work permits issued exclusively under the program are no longer valid.
Weeks before the decision took effect, on July 10, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump extended work permits for hundreds of thousands of migrants with TPS status, including Syrians, just hours before their expiration. Reuters quoted USCIS as stating that the extension covered citizens of Syria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan, and Myanmar, in a move aimed at providing a transitional period before the full implementation of the termination decision.
According to the latest official data available from the U.S. Congressional Research Service in March 2025, approximately 3,860 Syrians were covered by TPS in the United States.
Legal associations, human rights advocates, and local community members have expressed concern over the potential repercussions of the Supreme Court’s decision, which could deprive hundreds of thousands of work permits and protection from deportation. Meanwhile, labor unions have warned of “widespread chaos in workplaces” and disruptions to key economic sectors if the permits are not extended.
The implementation of this decision follows another Supreme Court ruling from June, which allowed the Trump administration to proceed with ending TPS after a federal court had temporarily suspended the decision. On June 25, the Supreme Court permitted the U.S. administration to terminate legal protection for migrants fleeing violence and natural disasters by a vote of six to three, overturning lower court orders, according to the Associated Press.
The decision allows the Department of Homeland Security to end TPS for approximately 1.3 million people from 17 countries, including Syria, potentially exposing hundreds of thousands to the risk of deportation. The agency noted that the decision came after the Department of Justice appealed to the Supreme Court, following judges’ postponement of the program’s termination for about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. The Supreme Court had previously allowed the termination of the program for Venezuelan citizens, marking an explicit alignment with the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies.
Conversely, immigration lawyers pointed out that these countries remain unsafe for return and accused the Trump administration of ending the procedures hastily, illegally, and with “racist motives.”
The United States included Syria in the TPS program in 2012. This program grants citizens of countries affected by conflict and natural disasters the right to reside and work in the U.S. temporarily, and it has been renewed several times in recent years. Thousands of Syrians residing in the United States will be affected by the termination decision, as this legal status had served as protection for them from the devastating war their country has endured.
