Unlawful Change Leaves Longtime U.S. Residents Vulnerable to Deportation as Trump Admin Moves to Terminate TPS Protections
CARECEN, TPS Beneficiaries From El Salvador and Haiti Escalate Their Legal Fight to Restore Path to Permanent Residence
Washington, D.C. — Seven Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries — who live in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and Miami, Florida — and the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in their suit against the Trump administration for unlawfully blocking TPS beneficiaries’ path to permanent U.S. residence. The motion is supported by declarations from the seven individual plaintiffs, who, like so many TPS beneficiaries, have established strong ties to their communities. The declarations outline the harm caused by the unlawful policy. The policy was authorized by then-acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli, whose appointment was first ruled illegal in response to a separate lawsuit brought by Democracy Forward, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), RAICES, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
The plaintiffs in this case are represented by Democracy Forward, CLINIC, Montagut & Sobral, PC, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
A recent Ninth Circuit decision lifting an injunction clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to eliminate protections for many TPS beneficiaries. TPS protection could end, for some beneficiaries, as soon as March 2021, leaving beneficiaries with pre-existing removal orders, like the individual plaintiffs in this case, vulnerable to the threat of imminent deportation. This looming risk heightens the urgency of the groups’ legal effort.
Prior to USCIS’s unlawful change, each of the plaintiffs took significant, costly steps in order to become eligible to apply for permanent residence. Several plaintiffs had already applied before the change was announced. All took action in a good faith attempt to keep the lives they have built for themselves and their U.S. citizen families in the U.S. intact. But USCIS’s unlawful policy, if left in place, would mean their efforts were all for naught — and that the plaintiffs might soon face deportation to countries that they hardly know or that they long ago fled for fear of their own safety.
