Nolan writes:
“Seven years later, after a series of TPS extensions had been granted, Duke announced that the conditions which were the basis for Haiti’s TPS designation no longer existed.
Among other things, the number of people displaced by the earthquake has decreased by 97 percent. Steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is now able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens. Moreover, Haiti has demonstrated a commitment to preparing for the return of its nationals when the TPS designation is terminated.
The Haitian TPS aliens have little recourse if they disagree with Duke’s evaluation of conditions in Haiti. Section 244(b)(5)(A) prohibits judicial review of any determination with respect to the designation, termination, or extension of TPS.
Moreover, it is apparent that Congress did not want TPS aliens to remain in the U.S. when their status has been terminated. Section 244(h)prohibits the senate from considering legislation that would adjust the status of TPS aliens to that of a lawful temporary or permanent resident.
This prohibition can be waived or suspended but it requires a supermajority, “an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of the Senate duly chosen and sworn,” which is very difficult to obtain.
If Haitian TPS aliens want to remain lawfully in the U. S. when their status expires, they have to find a way to obtain lawful status that would not be related to their TPS status, or seek a new grant of TPS on the basis of current conditions in Haiti.”
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Go on over to The Hill at the link to read Nolan’s complete article.
- Nobody outside of the Trump Administration and GOP restrictionists believes that the conditions in Haiti have significantly improved to the point where 60,000 individuals can be safely resettled.
- Indeed, the Haitian Government itself refutes that idea:
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“A visit to Haiti would offer you insight on the challenges that we continue to face,” Altidor wrote. The country, he said, has faced several devastating blows — including flooding from Hurricanes Irma and Maria — since the initial designation in 2010 after Haiti’s deadly earthquake.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article177922561.html
- In any event, the idea that the Trump Administration would find itself “legally compelled” to terminate TPS is questionable. Certainly, given the Haitian Government’s position, it would have been possible for the Administration to find that conditions had not significantly improved. However, this wouldn’t have suited their political purposes or played to their anti-immigrant base.
- Returning the Haitian TPS individuals at this point is little short of nonsensical. A responsible Administration would have proposed some type of long-term legislative solution that would allow the Haitians, who are indeed now part of and contributing to our society, particularly in Florida, to remain in some type of legal status, with or without a “path to citizenship.”
PWS
11-28-17
Paul says, “Nobody outside of the Trump Administration and GOP restrictionists believes that the conditions in Haiti have significantly improved to the point where 60,000 individuals can be safely resettled.”
TPS was based on an earthquake that occurred seven years ago. Is it really that hard to believe that the problems it caused have not improved?
Paul says, “Indeed, the Haitian Government itself refutes that idea:
“A visit to Haiti would offer you insight on the challenges that we continue to face,” Altidor wrote. The country, he said, has faced several devastating blows — including flooding from Hurricanes Irma and Maria — since the initial designation in 2010 after Haiti’s deadly earthquake.
“The detrimental impacts of the recent hurricanes have complicated our ability to recover from the 2010 earthquake,” he said. Cholera and Hurricane Matthew…have exacerbated the situation on the ground, resulting in major disruptions of living conditions in the short term.”
Letter to the Honorable Elaine C. Duke (DHS)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article177922561.html”
First, TPS is limited to temporary situations. In what sense is a situation that has lasted more seven years temporary?
Second, has the Haitian government made an official request for TPS to be continued? That is necessary when TPS is based on an earthquake. I will paste the statutory provisions here so you can see for yourself:
This comes from the section governing TPS designations:
(B) the Attorney General finds that-
(i) there has been an earthquake, flood, drought, epidemic, or other environmental disaster in the state resulting in a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in the area affected,
(ii) the foreign state is unable, temporarily, to handle adequately the return to the state of aliens who are nationals of the state, and
(iii) the foreign state officially has requested designation under this subparagraph;
Paul says, “In any event, the idea that the Trump Administration would find itself “legally compelled” to terminate TPS is questionable. Certainly, given the Haitian Government’s position, it would have been possible for the Administration to find that conditions had not significantly improved. However, this wouldn’t have suited their political purposes or played to their anti-immigrant base.”
If the Haitian government thinks TPS should be continued, why hasn’t it made an official request to continue it?
Paul says, “Returning the Haitian TPS individuals at this point is little short of nonsensical. A responsible Administration would have proposed some type of long-term legislative solution that would allow the Haitians, who are indeed now part of and contributing to our society, particularly in Florida, to remain in some type of legal status, with or without a “path to citizenship.””
The TPS provisions prohibit the senate from considering legislation that would provide lawful temporary or permanent status. There is a waiver to this prohibition, but it requires a supermajority, which makes it virtually impossible.
I think Paul and the other people who are looking to TPS as a long-term solution should proceed with caution. Congress made it absolutely clear that TPS is not supposed to be a long-term solution. They even put the word “temporary” in the name for the relief it offers.
Nor is it supposed to help large groups of people. As I point out in my article, when Napolitano issued her statement designating Haiti for TPS, she included a warning that it would only apply to Haitians who were in the US when the earthquake struck and that anyone coming her since then would be repatriated.
Keep pushing and you could see push back from the republican controlled congress. I think many of them are upset already by the fact that TPS is being extended for so many years. You could be pushing TPS over a cliff.
The GOP probably intends to push TPS over the cliff anyway. They have been threatening to do it for years. Whether they will succeed or not isn’t clear. It’s not like the Trumpsters are going to offer it to anyone anyway, except maybe displaced dictators.
If you can’t use it when it’s needed, what good is it? The biggest roadblock to the GOP anti-TPS faction has been some members of their own party who like TPS in certain situations.
Some of the harshest critics of TPS withdrawal for Haiti have been Republicans from Florida who see how nonsensical the Administration’s approach is and the unnecessary social, economic, and human carnage it inflicts on their constituent communities. At some point, that could be politically damaging to the GOP.
Why pick on any of the TPS folks? Most of them are living here quietly, minding their own business, working productively, paying taxes, contributing to their communities, and raising their American families. The money they send “home” helps prop up some Governments with which we are supposedly allied. They aren’t clogging up Immigration Court dockets. The “renewal fees” they pay are a profit that supports USCIS. And, they generally haven’t been agitating for an “upgrade” to LPR status with a “path to citizenship.” Most are just happy to be here, allowed to stay with their families, and work legally. They are “totally low maintenance.”
It would be a “win-win-win-win” for anyone but the Trumpsters. Even the Bushies didn’t push to end large TPS programs. They might not have known much, but, occasionally, they knew when to leave well enough alone.
So, in their xenophobic frenzy, the Trumpsters have taken something that wasn’t a problem, except for the “alt right fringies,” and made it one. That’s that’s the very definition of “Bad Government.”
I agree with your observation that there is no legal way (at least that I know of) to challenge TPS withdrawal. It’s “pure PD” as I’ve observed before. But, that doesn’t mean that any of these folks are going to “go quietly into the night” or that they will be forcibly removed from the US any time in the foreseeable future.
Maybe, at some point way down the line, the political winds will shift again, and we’ll get a rational solution to a compelling human situation. Until then, as with so much else in the Trump Administration, we’ll just have to “muddle through.”
PWS
11-29-17
I don’t believe that Trump is “picking on” the Haitians or any other TPS group. In fact, I don’t think presidents ever become involved in decisions as relatively unimportant as whether to continue a TPS designation. For that matter, I doubt that Acting DHS Secretary Duke had anything to do with it either.
If you study the TPS statutory provisions, you will see that TPS was intended for TEMPORARY emergency situations. In fact, Congress included provisions to ensure that future congresses would not change TPS into a permanent form of relief or even give the TPS aliens temporary lawful status.
Relief was expected to be given in 6, 12, and 18 month intervals, which applies to extensions as well.
I don’t think anyone involved in the creation of TPS anticipated that aliens would get TPS for seven years the way the Haitians have. And their termination won’t go into effect for another year and a half. That is eight and a half years.
One of the problems with this development is that at some point it becomes unconscionable to make the TPS aliens go home. I worked with TPS aliens on extensions when I was an immigration counsel on the Judiciary. I felt terrible about the fact that they were being sent home after being here for many years. I still do. But TPS didn’t offer the relief they wanted, which was to stay here permanently.
My suggestion is to terminate the program and create a new one that just gives short-term (no more than six months), emergency relief to aliens who happen to be in the U.S. when a tragic occurrence in their home countries makes it unsafe for them to return.
If there is support for more generous relief, a new bill can be written that would provide long-term status for aliens who should be allowed to remain longer. But don’t call it TEMPORARY protected status.