“The decision to undermine TPS for Haiti and Venezuela is driven by racial bias and has no basis in the realities these communities face,” a Lawyers for Civil Rights attorney said.
Three organizations have filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status for people from Haiti and Venezuela.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Haitians Americans United, the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, the UNdocuBlack Network, and four individual TPS recipients.
According to NBC News, President Donald Trump rescinded a one-year extension to Temporary Protection Status shortly after taking office. If Trump’s order is upheld and enforced, many TPS recipients would be required to return to their home countries within the coming six months.
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, was established by Congress in 1990. It is a type of immigration benefit that allows people from countries affected by natural disaster, violence, and political instability to remain and reside in the United States temporarily. TPS has been granted to dozens of nationalities since the program’s inception; although TPS only provides protection from deportation for between six and 18 months, past presidents have authorized multiple extensions.
Lawyers for Civil Rights, which is representing the plaintiff organizations, said that their lawsuit is the first filed on behalf of Haitian migrants.
“TPS is a critical lifeline for immigrants who have fled extreme violence, political upheaval, and natural disasters in their home countries,” senior Lawyers for Civil Rights attorney Mirian Albert said in a statement.
“The decision to undermine TPS for Haiti and Venezuela is driven by racial bias and has no basis in the realities these communities face,” Albert added.
The lawsuit cites a notorious incident from Trump’s first term in office, when he triggered outrage by using the term “shithole countries” to describe Haiti and a host of states in sub-Saharan Africa. Late last year, while on the campaign trail, Trump also repeatedly suggested that Haitian immigrants in a small Ohio city were “eating the pets of the people that live there.”
Dieufort J. Fleurissaint, the executive director of Haitians Americans United, told NBC10-Boston that “cutting the TPS date for Haiti short will have significant implications for Haitian immigrants in the U.S. who depend on this status to avoid deportation and maintain legal work authorization.”
“The community is anxious about the sudden loss of legal status, the possibility of facing deportation to unstable conditions in Haiti, and potential difficulties in finding alternative legal pathways in the U.S.,”” he said.
Carlos Martin Medina, the head of the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, told NBC10-Boston that “revoking TPS would not only harm these hardworking families but also destabilize the communities they’ve helped to strengthen. We stand united with our Haitian brothers and sisters in this fight for justice, and the fundamental right to security and a future free from fear.”
Sources
Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants sue to save TPS protections
Haitians sue to stop Trump administration from revoking temporary protection
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