TPS Migrants Must Legalize or Leave – And Nobody’s Happy

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was never supposed to be permanent. That’s what Markwayne Mullin, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told CNN’s Jake Tapper in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the expiration of TPS – a temporary lawful immigration status – for Syrian and Haitian migrants in the US.

Mullin’s comments come as he faces backlash from both sides of the political aisle: Many progressives are furious over the idea of sending migrants back to their home countries, and some conservatives are just as angry that the migrants are being given a chance to stay in the United States at all.

Mullin’s TPS Trip Up

In Mullin v. Dahlia Doe and Trump v. Miot, the Supreme Court reversed two lower-court rulings that delayed the end of TPS for migrants from Haiti and Syria. The ruling is expected to impact hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Haitians living in the United States, with experts estimating as many as 350,000 migrants could face deportation. The ruling was praised by conservatives until Mullin snatched defeat from the jaws of a Trump administration victory, recommending a path for the migrants to remain in the States:

“These individuals have a couple of choices: They can try to apply for a permanent residence here, they can apply for a temporary visa if they choose to, or they can choose to go back.”

Mullin made it clear that permanent status was not guaranteed, but that did little to quiet the backlash. Many conservatives argued that even if Mullin’s position was legally sound, advising TPS migrants on how to obtain permanent residency could have the same effect as another extension of the “temporary” program.

While Mullin was taking hits from the right for being too soft on TPS migrants, left-wingers like Mr. Tapper demanded to know whether deportations would start immediately. Tapper also raised the question of whether Haiti is actually safe, highlighting the State Department’s Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for the nation.

“That do not travel is not for Haitians,” Mullin explained. “That’s do not travel for the United States, because they are kidnapping or trying to kidnap individuals from the United States because they feel like their family has the money to pay the ransom.”

Mullin told Tapper that the Trump administration has “several options” for deportations, adding that US officials “expect to have pretty full flights going back to Haiti and going back to some of these countries where TPS has been eliminated.”

It’s TPS, Not PPS

In typical government fashion, a program built around the word “temporary” developed into something more permanent. TPS has been around since 1990, and in its current form, the DHS has the power to allow foreigners to live and work in the US “if they cannot return safely to their own country because of a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other ‘extraordinary and temporary’ conditions there.”

In 2010, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano determined Haitians could come to the United States under the TPS program after a massive earthquake struck the Caribbean nation. A couple of years later, Napolitano granted Syrians the same privilege due in part to “deteriorating conditions.” The two countries’ TPS designations were extended for years until former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the Trump administration’s intention to end their inclusion in the program.

But it’s not all bad news for TPS migrants: Mullin said the administration will give them roughly $2,100 “to go back home.”