Catholic bishops urge Congress to extend TPS for Haiti and Syria
US bishops warn of 'moral crisis' after the Supreme Court cleared the way to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and thousands of Syrians.
At least two US Catholic bishops have urged Congress to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Syria, according to The Boston Pilot. The appeals followed a June 25 US Supreme Court decision that suspended lower-court rulings blocking the Trump administration from ending TPS for the two nations, on the grounds that federal law largely bars courts from reviewing prior decisions to remove TPS designations. Bishop Brendan J. Cahill of Victoria, Texas, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, said on June 26 that revoking legal status for those who cannot safely return creates 'a moral crisis' and called on President Trump to consider deferred enforced departure. The report says roughly 1.3 million people held TPS in the US as of March 31, 2025, including more than 330,000 Haitians and about 6,100 Syrians. Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami called Haiti 'on the brink of collapse,' citing gang violence, kidnappings, a cholera epidemic and food insecurity, and urged at least a three-year extension. Father Eugène Almonor, a Haitian priest in Philadelphia, said returning people to Haiti would 'expose their lives' to danger. This is a developing, single-source report.