Published On 22/11/2025
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Last update: 21:01 (Mecca time)
Syrians in the United States breathed a sigh of relief after a federal court in New York ordered the administration of US President Donald Trump to postpone ending the temporary protected status of 6,100 Syrians following a lawsuit filed by a number of them to prevent this policy from entering into force.
However, a number of Syrians are still living in a state of anticipation, awaiting the final decision from the judiciary.
A report by Muhammad Al-Ahmad on Al Jazeera followed the state of anxiety prevailing among Syrians in the United States despite the federal court’s decision. Hazem Rihawi, an activist in Syrian-American organizations, considered the postponement issued by the court an important step, but he saw that the problem is not in ending the temporary protection status for Syrians as much as it lies in the challenges of implementation on the ground.
Hazem pointed out – in his speech to Al Jazeera – that the Syrians dream of returning to their country, but they need time to complete their procedures, in addition to that Syria is still in the reconstruction stage.
It is noteworthy that Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian program established by Congress in 1990 for immigrants from countries afflicted by exceptional circumstances such as wars. Beneficiaries of this status receive protection from deportation and are allowed to work in the United States.
Temporary protection was granted to Syrians for the first time in 2012 after the Syrian revolution.
Abdul Razzaq Al-Halabi has benefited from this program, as he works and lives in the state of Georgia, but since the Trump administration announced the end of the temporary protection status for Syria by this month, he has been living in a state of anxiety that has affected his health condition as a result of thinking about the consequences of this decision on his future and the future of his family, as he himself explained to Al Jazeera.
Seven Syrians filed a lawsuit, with the support of human rights organizations, against the Minister of Homeland Security, Christine Neume. The lawsuit aims to put pressure on the US government to continue providing protection and work permits to thousands of Syrians for legal and humanitarian reasons.
According to Megan Hauptman, a lawyer at the International Refugee Assistance Project, which represents the plaintiffs in the case, ending Syria’s temporary protected status is part of a broader plan developed by the Trump administration to completely end this status, and this is partly due – the lawyer continues – to discrimination against non-white and non-European immigrants in the United States.
Temporary protection status holders face serious harm as a result of this sudden termination. As Al Jazeera reported, they are at risk of losing their work permit and being protected from arrest and deportation.
It is noteworthy that the US State Department still places Syria at the fourth level of travel warning due to the security situation.
Migrant advocates say those registered in the temporary protection program may be forced to return to still unsafe conditions in their countries of origin.