The US Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.

The 6-3 decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to quickly end ‘temporary protected status’, a program that protects around 1.3 million people from 17 nations.

The ruling was another victory for the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigration.

It comes as the Trump administration continues to cause disruption and upheaval in the US’ migrant and refugee sector.

At the same time, migrants in US face being deported without their asylum claims being aired and ICE has been accused of homicide over its treatment of a vulnerable asylum-seeking women in the latest developments in US migration arrangements.

Asylum claims

Asylum seekers in the US could have their application rejected without a formal interview or access to review under a planned overhaul of the asylum system by the Trump administration.

An internal document leaked to US media reveals that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, wants to be able to reject applications more quickly by people who have been in the US for more than a year.

As part of the plans, immigration officials at USCIS would be given new powers to reject asylum applications if applicants have been in the country for too long, even if they qualify for exemptions to the filing deadline.

Under current provisions, foreigners who have been in the US more than a year ago can still apply for asylum if their case meets specific criteria, such as having suffered a serious medical condition or having received bad or misleading legal advice.

Even if the application was certain to be rejected because the asylum seeker had been in the US for too long, they would still get an interview.

Green cards

Immigrants could face a major new hurdle in obtaining US citizenship under a new Trump administration policy. 

The US Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) issued a paper recently proposing that immigrants who are in the US seeking green cards must return to their home countries to apply, except in “extraordinary circumstances”.

“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigated our nation’s immigration system properly. When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency,” a USCIS spokesman said.

Children’s citizenship

Immigrant mothers in the US are worrying that their babies could be left stateless as they await Supreme Court decision on birthright citizenship.

The US Supreme Court is set to rule by early July on whether babies born in the US to immigrant parents without legal or permanent status should continue to get automatic US citizenship.

The court is to rule on the Trump v. Barbara case, which challenges the constitutional status of President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, which has been in place since 1868.

The order, which has been blocked by lower courts blocked, targets babies born in the US to parents who are not citizens and don’t hold a permanent immigration status.

ICE accused of homicide

The death of a Haitian woman seeking asylum after her release from ICE custody has been ruled a homicide by a medical examiner.

Daphy Michel froze to death at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh, in March.

A local Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that her cause of death was hypothermia and ruled it was a homicide.

Ms Michel was a vulnerable adult “suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier” at the time of her release, the ruling said.

Her family members are expected to sue Immigration and Customs Enforcement in connection with her death.

Ms Michel was seeking asylum in the US after arriving at the southern border in 2022.

She had been granted humanitarian parole due to an important humanitarian need, but she did not live to see a hearing scheduled for two weeks after she passed away.