Ending TPS: A Continuation of Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Administration

Morgan MooneNovember 20, 2020

Mega Marcha Washington, National TPS Alliance

The Trump Administration continues to launch attacks on immigrants in the United States, perpetuating his white nationalist agenda.

By: Aiza Shah, Law at the Margins Intern

On September 14th, 2020, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump Administration can terminate humanitarian protections for more than 300,000 immigrants. This includes immigrants from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. The ruling applies to immigrants who are residing in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a temporary immigration status which is provided to individuals from countries facing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions. Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990, and it has provided work permits and stays of deportation to hundreds of thousands of individuals.

According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, deporting all Salvadoran, Honduran, and Haitian TPS holders would cost taxpayers $3.1 billion dollars, and ending TPS for these three countries would result in a $6.9 billion reduction to Social Security and Medicare contributions over a decade.

The Trump Administration opposed TPS under the argument that most countries in the program are no longer facing armed conflict or environmental disaster, and that the status has been renewed for years beyond its need. The appeals court ruling means that the immigrants who are stripped of their temporary protected status must find other ways to remain in the United States legally or leave and find living and working arrangements outside of the United States, potentially during a pandemic. Many recipients of TPS have been in the U.S. for extended periods of time, creating networks and becoming integral parts of communities, and for those who were brought here as children, this may be all that they know. TPS holders and their U.S. citizen children argued against the decision, stating that motivation to end the programs was fueled by racism; however, the 9th Circuit concluded that there was no support for the conclusion that the goal of removing protections was motivated by racism. Since the September ruling, there have been no official removals or deportations due to the removal of TPS. It is expected that TPS holders will begin to lose their status after March of 2021.

I was able to get in touch with Erik Villalobos, the Communications Manager of the National TPS Alliance, a grassroots organization dedicated to uplifting the voices of TPS holders and creating leadership among directly impacted TPS families to fight for their own rights. Erik emphasized that unless action is taken on behalf of TPS holders and families, deportations are a fate that is expected.

“Trump is simply just the figurehead and the people behind him are obviously white nationalists who are trying to promote this nationalist, racist agenda in the U.S.”

Ending TPS will have devastating effects on communities across the United States and the national economy. Many recipients of TPS have children who were born in the U.S. and are American citizens, and TPS holders contribute a vast amount to the U.S. economy and communities across the U.S. According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, deporting all Salvadoran, Honduran, and Haitian TPS holders would cost taxpayers $3.1 billion dollars, and ending TPS for these three countries would result in a $6.9 billion reduction to Social Security and Medicare contributions over a decade. Moreover, ending TPS for these three countries would lead to a $45.2 billion reduction in GDP over a decade. So why is the Trump Administration, which seems to obsess over the US economy, so bent on deporting thousands of immigrants? The answer is simple: the decisions made by the Trump administration are motivated by racism and the desire to ensure a white majority population in the United States.

National TPS Alliance’s Map of Road to Justice

When I asked Erik whether he believed that Trump’s decision to remove humanitarian protections of beneficiaries of TPS is racially motivated, he was certain that it was. In our conversation, Erik referenced Trump’s desire to encourage immigration from white Europeans, and his obvious distaste for “folks who are non-white.” While Erik was sure to acknowledge that Trump is racist, he pointed out that there is a larger, wider agenda surrounding policies like the removal of TPS that go beyond the decisions and rhetoric of just one individual, like Trump. “Trump is simply just the figurehead and the people behind him are obviously white nationalists who are trying to promote this nationalist, racist agenda in the U.S.” Even more striking about the decision to end TPS, is the fact that “this administration is not only going after folks without any documents, they’re going after folks who have actually legally contributed to this country for the past 20 years.” Erik sees this decision as a very harmful precedent. “If they’re going after these folks who have had documents for such a long time, I mean who knows what they would have done in the next four years.”

Tweets by TPS_Alliance

Despite Trump causing immense turbulence in the immigration community, there is hope that a future Biden administration can make things better for TPS recipients. On his website, President-elect Joe Biden vowed to protect TPS holders and offer a path to citizenship through legislative immigration reform. Erik told me that, although hearing that Biden would be the next president provided a sense of relief for the holders and individuals fighting for TPS, there is still much work to be done to ensure TPS holders are guaranteed residency. “I’m hopeful in that not because Biden is in office, but I’m more hopeful that an organization like [the National TPS Alliance] is around in the midst of a newer administration that could provide a seat at the table,” said Erik. It is important for advocates like Erik to demand that Biden delivers on his promises to protect TPS families and sign a legislative solution to guarantee a permanent residency for all TPS holders. Despite the hope of Trump leaving office, there is still much work to be done. A Biden administration does not guarantee change, but it does offer the opportunity to make change.

As damaging and harmful as the decision to remove TPS seems to be, it is simply a continuation of Trump’s efforts to reduce the American immigrant population as much as possible. Earlier during his administration, Trump continued an Obama-era program designed to identify “fraudulently” naturalized citizens. This Trump era task force aims to denaturalize citizens who supposedly “lied” on their citizenship application, putting tens of millions of naturalized citizens at risk. In the past, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) failed to review and digitize paper fingerprint submissions for a number of naturalized citizens, and the USCIS is now trying to correct for this by revoking the citizenship of naturalized individuals they claim should never have been naturalized in the first place. Essentially, “Individuals who successfully navigated the costly, stressful and complicated immigration system are now at risk of being denaturalized because the immigration system failed to properly check applicants’ forms and not necessarily because they intended to defraud the immigration system,” writes Morgan Moone of Law at the Margins. Suggesting that the mistakes indicated an intent to defraud immigration authorities, the Trump-era task force is first reviewing cases from “special interest” countries, which have unsurprisingly been majority Muslim countries. In addition to fueling the suspicion and discrimination Muslims in America are facing, the existence of this task force makes it clear that although individuals may be naturalized, their citizenship is less than those of natural-born US citizens. Naturalized citizens are second class citizens.

Trump has now become more than a single racist president. He is now a figurehead for white supremacists and racists all across America who implements policies that blatantly discriminate against immigrants, Muslims, and people of color.

The Trump administration has continually rolled out policies and task forces which aim to decrease immigration and reduce the number of immigrants residing in the United States, in order to favor the white, Christian population. There is no justification for any of these policies other than a blatantly racist attitude held and maintained by Donald Trump and his appointed staff, despite Trump repeatedly claiming he is “the least racist person in the room.” All of these policies and task forces have contributed to a trend in decreased immigration and increased racism and attitudes of white supremacy in the United States.

The Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has gathered data and documented a surging white nationalist movement. “In 2019, the number of white nationalist groups rose for the second straight year, a 55 percent increase since 2017, when Trump’s campaign energized white nationalists who saw in him an avatar of their grievances and their anxiety over the country’s demographic changes.” Despite all of this, there have been organizations and advocates continually fighting for immigrant and TPS holder rights. Over the past eight weeks, the national TPS alliance has been on a campaign called On the Road to Justice. Now winding down, it is the second nationwide bus tour launched by this grassroots organization in the past three years, and it aimed to uplift the voices of those who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, educate communities on how to take care of themselves amidst this pandemic, and encourage individuals to go out and vote. The campaign speaks out against racial injustice and hate, and encourages citizens to go out and vote in favor of their community. Trump has now become more than a single racist president. He is now a figurehead for white supremacists and racists all across America who implements policies that blatantly discriminate against immigrants, Muslims, and people of color. However, there will always continue to be individuals and organizations which fight for immigrant and minority rights, a fight that will continue for years to come.