The Trump administration has officially declared its intent to revoke deportation protections for thousands of Syrian migrants, a move announced by homeland security officials on Friday.
This decision directly impacts roughly 6,000 Syrians who currently reside and work in the U.S. under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, designed for those unable to safely return to their homelands. An additional 1,000 applications for TPS from Syrians were pending as recently as August, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs, defended the decision, asserting that it represents “restoring sanity to America’s immigration system.” McLaughlin claimed that conditions in Syria no longer pose a barrier to return and that allowing Syrians to remain in the U.S. is “contrary to our national interest,” given Syria’s history as a “hotbed of terrorism and extremism.” She reiterated that TPS is, by nature, a temporary designation.
However, the decision has drawn sharp criticism from immigration policy experts, who argue that Syria remains dangerously unstable and that Syrian migrants do not present a substantial terrorism risk. They point out that while rebels successfully ended the Assad family’s oppressive rule late last year, and new leadership has made overtures toward reform, serious concerns about ongoing sectarian conflict and violence persist across the nation.
Amanda Baran, who previously served as head of policy for Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, voiced strong disapproval. She described the policy change as “gutting” for the thousands of Syrians relying on TPS and for the American communities that have embraced them.
“Conditions in Syria remain dangerous and unstable, clearly warranting an extension under the law,” Ms. Baran asserted, highlighting what she views as the administration’s “disregard for the expertise of human rights experts.” She warned that this “reckless decision” would have profound and severe consequences for ordinary people.
Under the new directive, Syrians holding TPS will be given a 60-day window to voluntarily depart the United States before becoming subject to arrest and deportation. The TPS program, originally established for Syrians in 2012 and subsequently renewed several times, was most recently extended by the Biden administration and was scheduled to conclude on September 30.
These protections were initially instated by the Obama administration in 2012, directly in response to the escalating civil war in Syria. At that time, then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano emphasized that Syrians forced to return would “face serious threats to their personal safety” and confirmed that all TPS applicants underwent comprehensive background checks.
The termination of TPS for Syrians is part of a larger strategy by the Department of Homeland Security to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants across various programs. Similar actions have targeted individuals from countries such as Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cameroon, and Afghanistan.
This sweeping approach reflects the Trump administration’s commitment to increasing deportations and enforcing stricter immigration policies. It also follows earlier decisions to discontinue other temporary protection initiatives, including a program from the Biden era that offered safeguards to migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
Administration officials maintain that these protections were always conceived as temporary measures and that current conditions in the designated countries have sufficiently improved to allow for safe repatriation.
The TPS designation for Syrians has been extended multiple times over the years. Notably, during President Trump’s initial term, the administration renewed the status twice, though it implemented a cutoff date of August 1, 2016, excluding later arrivals. Even then, officials cited the ongoing armed conflict as the rationale for allowing Syrians already present to remain in the country.
In contrast, the Biden administration had extended the program three separate times and even broadened its scope, making Syrians who had been living in the United States since January 25, 2024, eligible to apply for TPS.
Not all of the Trump administration’s efforts to end deportation protections have gone unchallenged. For example, when the administration sought to terminate temporary protections for Haitians by September, a federal judge intervened, blocking the move until at least the following year. Subsequently, before his departure from office, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. extended those specific protections through February 2026.