(NEW YORK) — Marlene Noble, 35, has lived more than 30 years of her life in the United States.
After being abandoned by her biological family after a hurricane hit her home country of Haiti, she was brought by Catholic Charities to the United States, where she was later adopted.
But when she turned 18, she learned that her adoptive family had not properly submitted the adoption and immigration paperwork, leaving her in legal limbo.
She spent years trying to fix her status — including filing for citizenship on her own in her mid‑20s and consulting multiple lawyers — before eventually applying in 2020 for Temporary Protected Status, which she was granted in 2023.
But now, Noble finds herself again facing uncertainty as the Trump administration’s move to end TPS — which provides work authorization and protection from deportation to people whose home countries are deemed unsafe — faces a high‑stakes test at the Supreme Court amid the administration’s immigration crackdown.
“America is my home, and it has been for 31 years,” Noble told ABC News. “It took three years for me to get granted TPS. So a lot of hard work went into this, just to have it potentially ripped away from me … It’s kind of cruel and inhumane to rip that away from us.”
Noble says she is “scared” about Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing, where the justices will consider whether the administration acted unlawfully in seeking to terminate TPS for Haitians and other groups.
The outcome could directly affect the futures of tens of thousands of TPS holders from Haiti and Syria.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said TPS was “never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades.”
“The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe, and we expect a higher court to vindicate us in this,” the spokesperson said. “We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”
In previous statements, DHS has also argued that, after reviewing country conditions and consulting with other U.S. government agencies, the DHS secretary determined that Haiti no longer meets the conditions for TPS designation.
But immigrant advocates and plaintiffs in the case argue that Haiti is not safe. They point to the State Department’s “do not travel” advisory that warns Americans not to go to Haiti because of gang violence, kidnapping and political instability. And just last week, the Federal Aviation Administration extended its ban on U.S. aircraft operating in and near Haiti due to safety concerns.
“The State Department advises people to do not go there,” said Vilbrun Dorsainvil, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case. “They know for sure that if we get back we will get killed, kidnapped.”
Dorsainvil, a former doctor in Haiti and currently a registered nurse in Springfield, Ohio, told ABC News that when he found out the Trump administration canceled TPS, he “stayed home for, like, for more than two weeks without going outside.”
“I was very scared of what might happen to me,” he said. “I didn’t go to work, I didn’t go to church, you know, visit any friends. I just stayed home because I was very scared that they would take me.”
Dorsainvil said he arrived in the U.S. in March 2021 on a tourist visa and then later was approved for TPS status.
“I bought a house. I have a mortgage,” he said. “I help a lot of people getting better in the hospital. I love the job I’m doing. I am useful here.”
“The idea of going back there right now is scaring me, it’s killing me inside,” Dorsainvil said. “I hope they will see the good we are bringing to the community. I hope they will see the situation in Haiti right now … it’s not safe for anyone … and I pray they would let us stay here.”
While Wednesday’s arguments will focus on the TPS status of Haitians and Syrians, the high-profile case has cast a ripple across other communities who fear they might be the next population to lose their status.
Anil Shahi, a TPS holder from Nepal, said he plans to protest outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday on behalf of the 1.3 million people who rely on TPS. A founding coordinator for United for TPS Nepal — an organization that represents more than 1,400 TPS holders from that country — Shahi said that the Trump administration’s revocation of TPS status has forced TPS holders to live in a state of uncertainty about their legal status.
“The uncertainty is a huge killer. It’s very painful. You don’t know what’s going to happen … you’re scared,” he told ABC News. “You cannot just pick up and leave.”
DHS designated Nepal for TPS in 2015 following a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in the country that resulted in more than 8,800 deaths. The Trump administration sought to terminate the country’s TPS status in June 2025, though the change is the subject of an ongoing legal challenge.
According to Shahi, many Nepali TPS holders fear what might come next, in part because their personal information is readily available to authorities. With TPS recipients being vetted every 18 months, their addresses and personal data are known to the federal government.
“The government knows where we live. They know where we work. They have everything documented, right?” Shahi said. “So we are like a low-hanging fruit for them. It’s really easy for them to come after us if they really wanted to. And that’s what makes people really scared.”
Shahi said that Nepali TPS holders will be anxiously awaiting news from the Supreme Court, believing the outcome of Wednesday’s oral argument could indicate how their own legal fight will end.
At 56 years old, Shahi has lived the majority of his life in the United States and said he can’t imagine relocating to Nepal. He said that many Nepali TPS holders have U.S.-born children, and more than a hundred members of United for TPS Nepal own small businesses like restaurants, convenient stores, and beauty salons.
“I felt like I was a foreigner in my own country,” Shahi said about the last time he visited Nepal. “That was the point I realized I’m like really American, more than Nepali.”
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