WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.

The 6-3 decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly end temporary protected status, a programme that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.

The Republican administration argued that judges cannot second-guess immigration officials’ decisions about protections that were intended to be temporary.