Mullin tells TPS migrants to seek residency or leave U.S.

Markwayne Mullin told migrants living in the United States on temporary protected status to seek permanent residence or leave the country after the Supreme Court allowed the administration to end protections for Haitians and Syrians. The court ruled 6-3 on June 25 that the Trump administration can cancel TPS for those two countries and that federal law generally bars courts from reviewing future TPS designation and termination decisions.

Congressional Research Service data in March 2025 put the TPS population at 330,735 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians, while nearly 700,000 more people held TPS through other countries. Advocacy groups put the total at about 1.3 million people in the United States as of March 31, 2025.

Mullin told affected migrants they could either pursue a more durable lawful status or accept help leaving the country. The administration’s departure path runs through the CBP Home app. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says Haitians using that process receive a complimentary plane ticket and a $1,000 exit bonus, with possible future opportunities for legal immigration. Mullin also said those who leave could get about $2,100 to help re-establish themselves after departure.

USCIS had slated Haiti’s TPS designation and related benefits to terminate on February 3, 2026, and Syria’s on November 21, 2025, but federal judges had stayed both decisions before the Supreme Court stepped in. The United States first extended TPS to Haitians after the 2010 earthquake and to Syrians after civil war engulfed their country in 2012.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said it was not safe for Haitians to return and warned that removing workers could hurt Ohio’s economy and leave health care employers short-staffed. Democratic senators Catherine Cortez Masto, Ben Ray Luján, Alex Padilla and Ruben Gallego called the ruling a betrayal of American families and said they would keep fighting for a pathway to citizenship, while DHS said the decision reaffirmed that TPS was always meant to be temporary.