In another major win for President Donald Trump and his administration, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has given the president and his Department of Homeland Security the green light to halt the Temporary Protected Status program for certain nations, thus letting them start instituting deportation proceedings against thousands of invidividuals.
For reference, the Temporary Protected Status program allows certain foreign nationals who are from designated countries that are in the midst of experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or like dangerous and extraordinary conditions to remain in the United States and work legally without worrying about deportations.
While the program is meant to be temporary, however, it is one of those many government programs that has ballooned in size and, in this case, has allowed foreign nationals to remain in America indefinitely without undergoing proper screenings or immigration procedures. As such, the Trump Administration is trying to trim it down significantly.
Particularly, he is trying to build on his past success of having Nicaragua and Guatemala excluded from the program by halting TPS status for ten thousand individuals from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Ending their status would end their temporary deportation protections. The Fourth Circuit Appellate Court allowed DHS to continue on with ending the protections as the full matter is resolved in court.
The court delivered the victory for the Trump Administration on Monday, July 21, when it ruled in favor of the Trump Administration’s effort to allow the ending of the program to continue as DHS fights a more full legal fight with an immigration advocacy organization called CASA over ending the TPS operation.
CASA, for its part, is arguing that there is not enough evidence in hand to block the TPS operation. The court found that while CASA has a plausible claim, there is not enough evidence in hand to show that the court should step in to postpone or block an agency action pending an appeal of the full case.
Beginning that part of the ruling, the court said, “We agree with the district court that CASA, Inc. has stated a plausible claim for relief with regard to the alleged ‘preordained’ decision to terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Afghanistan and Cameroon, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh in favor of CASA, Inc.”
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Then, noting that despite that evidence in favor of CASA’s claim at least being plausible, there is nowhere near enough evidence for it to go to extraordinary lengths and block DHS pending appeal, it wrote, “At this procedural posture, however, there is insufficient evidence to warrant the extraordinary remedy of a postponement of agency action pending appeal.”
So, pending appeal, a total of about 9,600 Afghans and around 3,500 Cameroonians who have possessed TPS could be deported as that expires and the Trump Administration enforces immigration law. Particularly, the protections for Afghan immigrants were slated to expire at the beginning of July, and those for Cameroonians at the beginning of August.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, commenting on the matter and what the Trump Administration sees the ruling as a major win for America. She began, “This is another win for the American people and the safety of our communities.” She continued, “TPS was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet it has been abused as one for decades.”
Posting about the matter on social media, DHS said, “Temporary Protected Status was designed to be just that—TEMPORARY. Granted for 18 months under extraordinary circumstances. It was never meant to last a quarter of a century. For many of these countries, TPS was granted in the 90’s after natural disasters. Now that conditions have improved, it is time to return home. President Trump and Secretary Noem are restoring integrity to our immigration system and ensuring that TPS remains TEMPORARY.”
Watch Sen. Padilla freak out about the changes to TPS here: