PRESS RELEASE: SJAC and TIMEP file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Syria’s TPS Case

Conditions in Syria preclude a safe, dignified and sustainable return of Syrian TPS holders

April 20, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) and The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) filed, On Monday, April 13, 2026, an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Mullin v. Doe.

The brief refutes the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security’s evaluation of the conditions in Syria following the ousting of the former government under Bashar al-Assad—a key criteria for determining whether Syria continues to meet the conditions for the designation of Temporary Protected Status. In their brief, SJAC and TIMEP specifically demonstrate that the country continues to be plagued by ongoing armed conflict. Additionally, abductions, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, sexual and gender-based violence and other forms of violence targeting civilians—particularly women and girls—are continuously carried out by various actors in the country—including terrorist groups such as ISIL. Finally, humanitarian conditions remain dire in the country, compounded by rampant housing, land and property rights violations and an ongoing displacement crisis. These factors, individually and cumulatively, preclude the safe, dignified and sustainable return of Syrian TPS beneficiaries.    

“At present, Syria is not safe for the return of TPS beneficiaries,” emphasized SJAC’s Executive Director Mohammad Al Abdallah. “Should the Court allow the US government to end the TPS designation for Syria, as it previously did for Venezuela, approximately 7,000 Syrian beneficiaries—including doctors, researchers and teachers—will be forced to return to horrific circumstances. This conclusion is based on SJAC’s impartial monitoring, documentation and reporting on human rights conditions in Syria for over 14 years, including since the fall of the former regime.”   

Mai El-Sadany, Executive Director of TIMEP added, “Our hope is that this brief will provide the justices of the Court with credible and reliable information on the current conditions in Syria to support their evaluation of the lawfulness of the government’s termination decision at issue in this case. The Court’s decision will have wide-reaching consequences for the over one million TPS beneficiaries in the US, beyond Syrian nationals.”   

Background

On September 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syria—a decision with dire consequences for approximately 7,000 Syrians who have resided in the United States under TPS, many for over a decade. This decision was taken in the context of the Trump administration’s substantial overhaul of the TPS program, as former Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, sought to terminate the TPS designation for 13 countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela, South Sudan, Yemen and Syria. These decisions have sparked multiple legal battles, including before the Supreme Court.   

On February 26, 2026, Kristi Noem, former Secretary of Homeland Security, filed a motion with the Supreme Court to stay the order by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to delay its termination of TPS for Syria while the legal case challenging the decision moves forward. On March 16, 2026, the Supreme Court took the extraordinary decision to review this case on the merits without a final decision from a lower court or court of appeal.

In March 2026, the Supreme Court chose not to rule on the Trump administration’s request to immediately end legal status and work authorization for Haitian and Syrian TPS holders, allowing the ruling of the lower court to remain in effect. The Supreme Court consolidated the Syria case with the challenge to the termination of the program for Haitian nationals.

The Court has announced that it will hear oral arguments on whether the Trump administration can end the Temporary Protected Status program for Syrian nationals, as well as Haitian nationals, on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. 

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