WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration may proceed with ending Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for migrants from Haiti and Syria, reversing lower-court orders that had kept the protections in place while legal challenges moved forward. The 6-3 decision affects roughly 356,000 people who had been allowed to live and work legally in the United States under the humanitarian program, which was created by Congress in 1990 for individuals from countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions. The court's ruling allows federal immigration officials to move ahead with terminating those protections while broader litigation continues.

The Trump administration argued that federal law gives the Department of Homeland Security broad authority to designate and terminate TPS protections and that such decisions are largely insulated from judicial review. Opponents of the policy contended that conditions in both Haiti and Syria remain unstable and that ending the program could expose longtime U.S. residents to deportation, job losses and family separation. Many TPS recipients have lived in the United States for years, contributing to local economies and raising U.S.-born children. The ruling is expected to take effect later this summer unless affected individuals obtain another form of legal status.