High court to rule on temporary migrant protections

Conservative justices last year set aside rulings that blocked Trump's orders.

- BY DAVID G. SAVAGE

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on whether the Trump administration may end the temporary protection that had been extended in the past to migrants who live and work in the United States.

At issue are legal protections for about 6,000 Syrians and up to 350,000 Haitians.

The court's announcement signals the justices want to resolve this issue in a written opinion rather than through emergency appeals.

Twice last year, the court's conservatives set aside decisions from judges in San Francisco who said President Trump's Homeland Security secretary had overstepped her authority.

Those cases involved the temporary protection status extended to about 600,000 Venezuelans.

But those decisions did not set clear precedents, and in recent weeks, judges in New York and Washington, D.C., blocked the administration’s plan to end the special protections for Haitians and Syrians.

Frustrated by what he labeled "indefensible" decisions, Trump's solicitor general, D. John Sauer, advised the court to hear arguments and issue a written ruling on the issue.