The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a 2-1 decision. Which has green-lighted the president’s plan to end the TPS status of temporary protected status? The US Congress has passed the TPS to provide temporary relief for countries who have suffered emergencies. But that status was very clearly defined as temporary.
The Trump administration tried to end the TPS status for people from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. However, the administration was sued and a liberal activist judge ruled that temporary actually means permanent. He placed an injunction barring the ending of the program. That injunction has been lifted by the 9th Circuit Court and it remains to be seen if there will be an appeal of that ruling.
If allowed to stand, the United States will be sending these recipients of TPS home. The court noted that Congress passed TPS as a temporary measure for countries that have suffered natural disasters or war. In the case of Sudan TPS was granted in 1997. That is 23 years for you democratic voters out there, but now the temporary program will be ending and the people and their dependents sent home.
Federal district judge Edward Chen granted plaintiffs (TPS recipients and their dependents) injunctive relief, however, the ruling from the 9th Circuit says that Chen erred inasmuch as the plaintiffs had no chance of winning their case and thereby should not have been awarded the injunction.
Circuit Judge Consuelo M. Callahan explained, “The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program is a congressionally created humanitarian program administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that provides temporary relief to nationals of designated foreign countries that have been stricken by a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions in the foreign state.” In 2017 and 2018, Secretaries of DHS under the Trump Administration terminated the TPS designations of four countries: Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. Plaintiffs, who are TPS beneficiaries from these countries and their children, challenged the TPS termination decisions as unlawful …
The court wrote: “The district court entered a preliminary injunction barring the implementation of the termination decisions. On appeal, the Government argues that the district court abused its discretion in issuing the injunction because Plaintiffs have not shown a likelihood of success on either of their claims. We agree.”
The court noted that Sudan became eligible for TPS in 1997 because of wars and food shortages in that country. The fighting is now limited to three small areas. Furthermore, the food shortage no longer exists because of higher than expected harvests over the past few years.
Nicaragua became eligible in 1999 due to Hurricane Mitch. It has been determined that the conditions that led to TPS designation no longer exists. What country has been unable to bounce back from a hurricane in 21 years? Judge Chen later ignored that fact in his ruling. Indeed, he did not even bother to review if TPS status was actually warranted.
Three earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001 made them eligible for TPS in 2001. The earthquakes displaced 17% of the population. But those conditions no longer exist. That means TPS status is no longer necessary. There is no reason that TPS needs to be extended.
Haiti was added in 2010 after the country was hit by a 7.0 earthquake that rocked the island country. But Haiti has been able to close 98% of its displacement sites. Therefore, conditions no longer warrant the temporary status of Haitians and their children.
The elimination of the TPS status for these three countries will open up jobs for some of the 26 million unemployed Americans. It will also save taxpayers the money spent on government giveaways to these temporary immigrants. That’s a win/win situation. It will also set the standard for future TPS programs. This was never meant to be a permanent program.
The plaintiffs could now appeal to the full court and from there it could go to the Supreme Court unless Trump wins the appeal. The program should be limited to 3 extensions in the future. Hearings within Congress would be necessary to extend it beyond that.
This is a huge win for President Trump but he will face more challenges over the next four-plus years. Activist judges must be reined in as well. If they insist on ruling against the laws of the land, they should be removed. They cannot be fired, but they could be given administrative assignments. Judges are not above the law.
There are about 250,000 citizens of El Salvador alone that can now be removed. A total of 400,000 in all. We can no longer be the mother of the world.
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