On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6-3, along partisan lines, in favor of the Trump administration’s plan to remove Temporary Protected Status from about 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian immigrant, making them potentially subject to deportation.
Maplewood-based immigration attorney Kate Reilly told Village Green, “The ruling today allows the president to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants and allows the administration to arbitrarily terminate all other TPS designations going forward. This decision puts TPS holders – people who are legally working, raising families, and contributing to our community and communities around the country – at risk of being sent back to countries that remain unsafe due to war, instability or humanitarian crises. It threatens families, employers and local economies while undermining protections that have allowed long-term residents to live and work lawfully in the United States.”
Leaders in Essex County, which is home to many immigrants with Temporary Protected Status or TPS, reacted to the ruling.
Cynthia Galeota and Susan Vercheak, co-chairs of the SOMA Action Immigration Committee, sent the following statement, “The Immigration Committee of SOMA Action deplores the U.S. Supreme Court ruling today to end the Congressional program to provide humanitarian protections for those whose countries are unsafe due to war and natural disaster. This decision is a hammer blow to the 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians who live and work in the US under this protection, including 16,000 Haitians and a significant number of Syrians who call New Jersey home–as well as the loss of valued workers who perform critical services in agriculture, healthcare and hospitality. Our neighbors now face the loss of work authorization and legal status, and a return to countries riven by violence, political instability and food insecurity. The Court’s continuing deference to the Trump administration’s war on immigrants is shameful.”
From U.S. Rep. Analilia Mejia (NJ-11):
“Today’s decisions handed the Trump administration sweeping new power to strip away constitutional protections and throw hundreds of thousands of lives into uncertainty. Whether denying asylum seekers the chance to be heard or ripping Temporary Protected Status away from families who have spent years building their lives in this country, this corrupt Court, beholden to an authoritarian-like President, once again chose politics over the Constitution.”
“The 14th Amendment promises due process and equal protection under the law. Those rights do not disappear because a President decides an entire community has become politically convenient to target. Families followed the law, renewed their status, raised children, built businesses, paid taxes, and contributed to communities across this country. Asylum seekers deserve the opportunity to have their claims heard before the government decides their fate. Above all else, this case is simply cruel and denies humanity to our fellow human beings seeking safety.”
“These rulings should alarm every American. When the government can deny one group a hearing or strip away protections they have relied on for years, it is not just immigrants who lose. It sends a dangerous message that constitutional rights can be discarded whenever those in power find it politically useful. This Court may have failed today, but our fight for dignity, humanity, and justice cannot. We must continue fighting until the promises of the 14th Amendment belong to everyone, not just those in power.”
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Members of the Maplewood Township Committee at a Haitian flag raising ceremony in May 2026.
South Orange and Maplewood elected officials have not yet publicly commented, but both towns have celebrated their immigrant populations with many events including, most recently, a Haitian Flag raising in May and the introduction of a “Maplewood Immigrant Trust Act” ordinance on June 16. The ordinance aims to “clarify the Township’s policies regarding the use of municipal resources in connection with federal civil immigration enforcement operations, to protect the rights and privacy of all residents, and to ensure compliance with State law, including the Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust.” The Township Committee is scheduled to host a hearing and vote on the ordinance on July 7.
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