A Black person with a disability in a red shirt and wheelchair laughing and dancing with a Black direct support professional

What the Supreme Court’s Haitian TPS Ruling Means for Disability Services

/in /by Shira Wakschlag

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the federal government to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and thousands of Syrians who have legally lived and worked in the United States. After weeks of short-term court extensions, TPS protections for Haitians ended on July 27.

For people with disabilities and their families, the effects could reach far beyond immigration policy.

Haitian immigrants are an important part of the nation’s care workforce, including the workers who support people with disabilities to live, work, and participate in their communities. Some disability service providers are now preparing to lose experienced staff at a time when they already face funding challenges to hire enough workers.

That makes the Supreme Court’s TPS ruling a disability services issue, too. Losing Haitian workers could disrupt services, deepen pressure on families, and make it harder for people with disabilities to get the support they need to live in their communities.

What Are Mullin v. Doe and Trump v. Miot, and Why Do They Matter for People With Disabilities?

Mullin v. Doe and Trump v. Miot involved the federal government’s decisions to end TPS for people from Syria and Haiti. The Supreme Court considered the cases together.

Congress created TPS in 1990 to allow people from countries experiencing war, natural disasters, or other dangerous conditions to temporarily live and work legally in the United States. Haiti received TPS after the devastating 2010 earthquake, and Syria was designated in 2012 during its civil war. Those protections were extended by multiple administrations as dangerous conditions continued.

The disability connection may not be obvious from the primary questions at issue in the case. But immigrants are a major part of the workforce providing long-term care to people with disabilities and older adults, and Haitian workers are particularly well represented in direct care jobs.

What Happened in Mullin v. Doe?

In 2025, the Department of Homeland Security moved to end TPS for Haiti and Syria. Haitian and Syrian TPS holders challenged those decisions in federal court, arguing that the government hadn’t followed the law. The Haitian plaintiffs also argued that racial discrimination influenced the decision. Lower courts blocked the TPS terminations. The federal government appealed, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the cases.

What Did the U.S. Supreme Court Decide in Mullen v. Doe?

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the federal government, clearing the legal path for it to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

The majority held that federal law generally prevents courts from reviewing non-constitutional challenges to the government’s decision to end a country’s TPS designation. It also found that the Haitian plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their claim that racial discrimination motivated the termination.

Justice Elena Kagan dissented, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. She argued that courts should be able to review whether the government followed the procedures required by law and that the Haitian plaintiffs’ discrimination claim deserved further consideration.

The disability workforce connection appears in Justice Kagan’s dissent. One plaintiff, a Syrian TPS holder, works as a behavioral technician supporting people with disabilities. Losing TPS could force her to leave both her family and the people she supports.

What Happened to Haitian TPS After the Supreme Court Ruling?

The Supreme Court ruling didn’t itself terminate TPS. It removed the lower-court protections that had prevented the federal government’s termination from moving forward. Court orders temporarily kept TPS protections and work authorization in place while the case returned to the lower courts, with the latest extension running through July 27, 2026.

How Could Ending Haitian TPS Affect Disability Services and HCBS?

Immigrants make up 30% of the direct care workforce providing long-term services in the United States. Among immigrant direct care workers, 6% are from Haiti.

Haitian TPS holders also have a significant presence in care jobs. An estimated 13,000 work as nursing assistants and another 8,000 work as caregivers across the country.

These numbers show how deeply Haitian workers are woven into the care workforce at a time when disability providers already don’t have enough staff.

In 2025, 88% of community-based disability service providers surveyed by ANCOR reported moderate or severe staffing shortages. Nearly two-thirds had turned away people seeking services because they lacked enough workers.

Losing experienced staff in that environment can mean interrupted services, fewer available programs, more pressure on families, and greater risk of institutionalization when community-based supports aren’t available. It can also mean losing a worker who understands how someone communicates, what support works for them, and what matters in their daily life.

What Are Disability Service Providers Preparing for After the Haitian TPS Ruling?

For some disability service providers, the workforce impact is already becoming concrete.

Stanfort Perry, CEO of AHRC Nassau, a chapter of The Arc on Long Island, NY, wrote in The Washington Post that his agencies expect to lose 19 staff because of the Supreme Court’s Haitian TPS decision. In a field already struggling to recruit and retain enough workers, Perry warned that every staff member matters.

The Arc of Massachusetts is raising similar concerns. CEO Maura Sullivan told WCVB that families are worried about losing trusted workers who know their loved ones, understand how they communicate, and are familiar with the supports they need.

When an experienced worker leaves an already understaffed system, a person with a disability can lose continuity and a trusted relationship that may have taken years to build.

Why Is The Arc Concerned About the Disability Support Workforce?

For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the ability to live in the community depends on having reliable services and enough skilled, experienced workers to provide them.

The Arc’s position statement on Long Term Supports and Services calls for a strong direct support workforce and policies that recruit, train, fairly compensate, and retain qualified workers. Community-based services depend on having enough workers to provide them.

Immigration policy didn’t create the direct support workforce crisis. Years of inadequate funding and low wages have made it difficult to recruit and retain workers. But losing experienced Haitian workers could deepen that crisis at a time when providers already don’t have enough staff to meet the need.

The Supreme Court’s Haitian TPS ruling shows how decisions that may not appear to be about disability can directly affect disability services. People with disabilities shouldn’t lose access to community-based support because the systems they rely on haven’t sustained the workforce needed to make those services possible.

Haitian TPS and Disability Services: Frequently Asked Questions

How could ending Haitian TPS affect people with disabilities?

Haitian workers are part of an already understaffed care workforce. Losing experienced workers could disrupt services, reduce available supports, and make it harder for people with disabilities to live and participate in their communities.

How many Haitian TPS holders work in caregiving and direct care?

An estimated 13,000 Haitian TPS holders work as nursing assistants and another 8,000 work as caregivers across the United States.

Could ending Haitian TPS increase the risk of institutionalization?

Yes. When there aren’t enough workers to provide home and community-based services, people with disabilities may have fewer options to get the support they need at home and face greater risk of institutionalization.

What could the Haitian TPS ruling mean for disability service providers?

Providers already struggling to hire and retain enough workers could lose experienced staff, making it harder to maintain programs, accept new people, and provide consistent community-based services.

Resources on Haitian TPS and Disability Services