Khaberni - Reuters reported that President Donald Trump's administration has requested the Supreme Court on Thursday to intervene in its efforts to lift deportation protections for about 6,000 Syrians living in the United States.
The agency stated that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an urgent memorandum asking the country's highest judicial body to annul a decision made by Judge Catherine Fayla last November. This decision had prevented the U.S. administration from terminating the "Temporary Protected Status" for Syrians, pending the adjudication of a lawsuit challenging the government's action, a stance supported by a New York appeals court rejecting the stop of Judge Fayla's decision on February 17.
The case dates back to last September when the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, announced the termination of Syria's designation under the protection program. Noem justified the decision by stating that conditions in Syria "no longer meet the criteria of ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the safety of Syrian citizens returning."
The emergency request submitted on Thursday stated that Secretary Noem considered that Judge Fayla had overstepped her authority when she halted the administration's decision to end the "Temporary Protected Status" granted to Syrians.
This marks the third time the Trump administration has escalated its efforts to end migrant protections to the Supreme Court. The court has previously sided with the administration twice, both of which involved canceling protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.
The Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration had moved to terminate the protection status for migrants from 12 countries, yet similar legal challenges have resulted in rulings that currently prevent the decision from being implemented against citizens of several countries, most notably Syria, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Haiti, and Myanmar.
The U.S. administration maintains a stance that the "Temporary Protected Status" program has been "abused," pointing out that many of the migrants covered by it "no longer deserve this protection."
It is worth noting that Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian classification provided by U.S. law for immigrants from countries suffering from wars, natural disasters, or other calamities, protecting those who are granted this status from deportation and allowing them to work in the United States.
The Temporary Protected Status program was first extended to Syrian citizens in 2012 during the Obama administration after Syria had descended into a war that peaked last year with the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.
