Amidst a Global Pandemic, Appellate Court Denies Protection and Stability for TPS holders including overlooked African, Black Latinx, and Haitian Families.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS), as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision ruled in Ramos v Nielsen is not only cruel, but woefully misguided. As noted in this press release, the consequences of ending TPS since such individuals are the ones risking their lives on the front lines during this pandemic.

"The irony of a racist administration seeking to destabilize and harm community members who are playing an integral role in stabilizing the country in its time of need cannot go unnoticed."

This decision will now go to the SCOTUS.

-Angela Valenzuela

Amidst a Global Pandemic, Appellate Court Denies Protection and Stability for TPS holders including overlooked African, Black Latinx, and Haitian Families

September 14, 2020

Washington, DC- UndocuBlack Network shares anger and outrage about the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to rule in favor of the Trump Administration in Ramos v Nielsen and againstTemporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. As we continue to endure the unique challenges of surviving a global pandemic, this judgment against our communities runs the risk of causing further harm to an already vulnerable population. Today’s decision will certainly affect over 300,000 TPS holders from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan. TPS holders from Nepal and Honduras are impacted by the Bhatteri v. Nielsen case which is likely to follow the pattern set by the ninth circuit court decision on the Ramos case, thereby ending TPS for them in the near future as well. The Trump administration challenged the bare minimum provision of TPS and today’s ruling from the ninth circuit affirmed Trump’s racist arguments. 

Overview of the Legal Holding

The appellate court decided that the plaintiff’s claim under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) is not reviewable. The court explained that the claim did not challenge a procedure, but rather the substance of a law, which the APA does not cover. In the opinion posted today the court also held that the district court “abused its discretion” in concluding that the Plaintiffs presented “at least serious questions on the merits of their Equal Protection claim.”  

They further explained their denial of this claim by saying that there was no evidence that the racist statements Trump has made in the past, were a direct motivation for the termination of TPS.  

Next Steps and Response from the Communities 

As the United States continues to face an onslaught of COVID-19 cases, TPS holders have been instrumental on the front lines by providing care in hospitals and other essential industries. The irony of a racist administration seeking to destabilize and harm community members who are playing an integral role in stabilizing the country in its time of need cannot go unnoticed. The decision of the Ninth Circuit judges today to side with the government further enables the Trump administration’s continued and systematic racism and destruction of programs that benefit Black and Brown immigrants. 

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) must respond to today’s decision with the agency’s guidelines or plans to move forward with the termination of the program. Since the decision was received after September 4, 2020, the January 4, 2021 expiration date for work permits and status for TPS holders stand. USCIS must also give notice before ending TPS. It is expected that the earliest they could do another termination date is in March 2021. UndocuBlack Network will continue to fight against such cruel policies until equity is achieved for our immigrant communities.

“The Temporary Protected Status program gives hope to Nicaraguans who come to this country in search of stability and progress. Today's decision to end TPS is a continuation of biased, unfair immigration policy. Weaponizing TPS is psychologically violent to thousands of Nicaraguans who escaped natural disasters, political persecution, and economic turmoil. This ploy is itself a disaster, persecution, and turmoil. What needs to end is inhumanity.“ - Ana, Nicaraguan, UndocuBlack member 

“I don’t really know what to say right now. I do know that this isn’t over until the Supreme Court decides, we will keep fighting. I am currently finishing my studies and working, other people I know have kids going back to school. I was having a good day until this, I was looking forward to making future plans.” -- Lys, Haitian TPS holder, UndocuBlack member 

“ The floundering Trump administration has failed at every opportunity to create any positive progress for the country for four disastrous years; instead they’ve created a trail of preventable deaths, destruction, and turmoil. Caging children was not enough, holding children hostage in hotels awaiting deportation was not enough---a global pandemic was not enough to stop their racist rampage against Black and Brown immigrants, families, and children. The resources put towards endless court cases and the deportation machine called ICE shows a consistent lack of reasoning, prioritizing, and overall leadership. The country and our people can not, should NOT be put through four more years of this incompetence, and destruction. This administration is a toxin, and the time to stand firmly on the right side of history is now. We need everyone and anyone who cares about us to dismiss this TPS ruling and be committed to fighting like hell to make sure the work permits for folks do not expire as slated for January 4, 2021.”--Patrice Lawrence, Co-director of UndocuBlack

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Press can contact our Communications Coordinator: 

Bethelhem@undocublack.org with any questions.

In Solidarity,

UndocuBlack

It's disgusting to see this president and his administration carry out his ethnic cleansing policies. The meanness and inhumanity of Trump's decision to end Temporary Protective Status to Haitians that pose no threat to our country is beyond measure and can only be attributed to racism against Black people.  We desperately need to get this president and his party out of office.  -Angela       WOLA Press Release November 21, 2017 Trump Administration’s Decision to End TPS for Haitians is Misguided, Discriminatory and Encourages other Governments to Reject Migrants Washington, DC—On November 20, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an end to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, many of whom sought refuge in the United States after devastating natural disasters in Haiti. With this decision, over 50,000 Haitians and their children, some 30,000 of whom were born in the United States, will lose protected status and face deportation effective July 2019. Just prior to the official announcement, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Bill Nelson (D-FL), along with civil society representatives of all faiths and creeds, urged DHS to reconsider the decision. “Revoking TPS for Haitians is a sad reflection of the ways in which U.S. immigration policy has historically discriminated against people of color and people of African descent," said Gimena Sánchez, Senior Associate at the Washington Office on Latin America, a leading research and advocacy organization advancing human rights in the hemisphere. "There is no reason to criminalize, stigmatize, or deport the Haitians who benefitted from TPS. Doing so will break up tens of thousands of families, and will kill the hopes and dreams of so many who have made the United States their home. Children educated in the United States, who otherwise had bright futures ahead of them, will be devastated as they are forced to return to a country they have never known.” Besides sending the wrong message about U.S. values, this decision will only encourage other nations in the Western Hemisphere to close their doors to Haitians and other migrants in need. Trump’s stigmatization of migrants has arguably already had a ripple effect across the region: the Bahamas recently decided to force all undocumented persons, many of whom are Haitian, to leave the country by the end of the year; while Argentina is implementing an increasingly restrictive immigration policy. The U.S. move to end TPS may have particularly serious repercussions in the Dominican Republic, a country that cruelly stripped Dominicans of Haitian descent of their citizenship in 2013, regardless of how many generations had lived there, leaving hundreds of thousands of people stateless. With the situation far from resolved, the Dominican Republic’s anti-immigrant hardliners will likely be further emboldened by the Trump administration’s xenophobic policies, as will many other like-minded ideologues in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti’s new leadership has already expressed concern about its capacity to absorb those expelled from the United States. The country is simply not prepared to accept and integrate large waves of U.S. deportees, given its ongoing humanitarian crisis. Nearly 800,000 Haitians have contracted cholera since 2010, and access to clean water remains limited due to the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Additionally, local security personnel will face significant challenges in maintaining order across the country, given the recent withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers. "With most nations, even Canada, reluctant to welcome those unwilling to return to Haiti’s grinding poverty, where will all of these people go? Expelling them from the United States will have massive humanitarian and logistical costs. It will likely generate an underclass of people who choose to stay in the United States living in fear, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Haitians who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents may also face increased mistreatment, division, and suspicion. Ending TPS for Haitians is an unjustified act of cruelty against a group of people that the U.S. government has now deemed undesirable," said Sánchez. ### Contact: Loren Riesenfeld WOLA Communications Officer +1 (202) 797-2171 press@wola.org

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