The Supreme Court is now being asked not just to rule on one program, but to define the outer limits of presidential power over immigration. At stake is Temporary Protected Status for Haitians first granted after the 2010 earthquake, a lifeline repeatedly extended, then abruptly targeted as the administration sought to project a tougher stance and a “vote of confidence” in Haiti’s future.

A federal judge’s blistering opinion, accusing Homeland Security of ignoring the law and hinting at racial bias, stunned the White House and energized immigrant advocates. The administration insists courts are overreaching, warning that if this legal theory holds, its entire agenda could be dismantled from the bench. For Haitian families who have built lives, careers, and communities in the United States, the legal abstractions boil down to a single, terrifying uncertainty: whether everything they know will vanish with one terse order from the Court.