Supreme Court: No green card for TPS holders after illegal entry

The decision is a setback for thousands of U.S. residents who are temporarily protected from deportation because of unsafe conditions in their home countries and now want to remain permanently in the U.S.

“The question here is whether the conferral of TPS enables him to obtain LPR [Legal Permanent Residency] status despite his unlawful entry. We hold that it does not,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the opinion.

Federal law allows some nonimmigrants to seek an adjustment of their legal status in the U.S. provided that they have been “admitted” to the country. Kagan explained that TPS — a designation conferred by the State Department because of humanitarian or security conditions in a country — is not itself admission.

“An ‘admission’ is defined as ‘the lawful entry of the alien into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer,'” she wrote. “The TPS program gives foreign nationals nonimmigrant status, but it does not admit them.”

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