A federal judge this week lifted the final legal barrier preventing immigration officials from deporting individuals who lost temporary protected status. The action follows a Supreme Court decision in June that removed judicial review limitations on the program, clearing the way for enforcement actions.
With no remaining legal roadblocks in place, the Department of Homeland Security has begun deportation flights. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated this week that the agency is actively pursuing individuals who lost TPS protections. "These individuals can either self-deport or we'll arrest you and send you back. It's that simple," Mullin said.
The Trump administration has terminated TPS designations for multiple countries since taking office, leading the Supreme Court to authorize ending protections for Haiti and Syria despite both nations appearing on the State Department's "do not travel" advisory list. Over 300,000 Haitians have lost TPS protections overnight and face deportation unless they have applied for alternative immigration relief such as asylum or a green card.
TPS, enacted by Congress in 1990, protects individuals already in the United States when their home country experiences natural disasters, epidemics, armed conflict, or other extraordinary circumstances making return unsafe. The program provides work permits and has contributed an estimated 262 billion dollars to the U.S. economy since 2001, according to FWD.us. TPS holders have worked in essential industries including construction and healthcare.
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, criticized the contradiction between government travel warnings and deportation policies. "In a stunning contradiction, the administration advises Americans against all travel to Haiti and instructs those who go anyway to draft a will and submit DNA samples so their remains can be identified," Vignarajah said. "To then compel hundreds of thousands of Haitians into such dire circumstances is an unconscionable abdication of our moral responsibility."
Harriett Cecilia Joseph, a former TPS holder, expressed the impossible situation facing many Haitians. "It's not that we don't want to go back to Haiti. It's just the situation doesn't allow us to," Joseph said.
Removal orders for Haitians in immigration courts have increased 96 percent between March and June, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Immigration officials have begun placing ankle monitors on Haitians to track their movements, making apprehension easier.
Thousands of Syrians face similar risks following TPS termination. Additionally, a federal court allowed the government to end employment authorization for active TPS holders from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan, threatening their livelihoods despite ongoing deportation protections.
Josiane Valsaint, a Haitian who held TPS, wrote that immigrants contribute significantly to the American workforce. "We work hard, we pay our taxes, we give back to our communities and we are a big part of the engine that keeps the United States workforce in many essential industries moving. We deserve to stay here, with our families and loved ones," Valsaint said.