CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 20 attorneys general, urged Congress to take immediate action to protect Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders.
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In a letter to congressional leaders, Attorney General Raoul and the coalition called on Congress to pass H.R. 1689/S.4814, which would extend TPS protections for Haiti. The coalition also asked Congress to pass legislation that would provide judicial oversight of TPS decisions and establish a pathway to permanent residency for TPS holders. The coalition’s letter comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Mullin v. Doe, which upheld the termination of TPS for Haitians and Syrians while laying the groundwork for the revocation of TPS protections for other countries without any form of judicial oversight or review.
“As the proud son of Haitian immigrants, this issue is personal. TPS protects the safety of Haitian immigrants who significantly contribute to our state and national economies,” Raoul said. “This is no time to terminate TPS given the instability in Haiti. I’m calling on Congress to extend the protection Haitians deserve, restore judicial oversight of the TPS program and create a pathway for permanent residency for TPS holders.”
The Supreme Court’s decision created uncertainty for more than 1 million TPS holders nationwide and could have extreme humanitarian and economic impacts on these individuals, who lawfully live and work in the United States. In their letter, Raoul and the coalition argue that the termination of TPS for Haiti will have immediate repercussions for Haitian TPS holders, their families, and the economies of both the nation and individual states.
Haitian TPS holders contribute $5.9 billion to the U.S. economy annually and pay approximately $1.6 billion in taxes. Furthermore, a recent estimate found that 75,000 TPS-eligible Haitians work in labor-short industries.
The coalition’s letter also underscores the severe humanitarian conditions in Haiti, where TPS was first designated in 2010 following a devastating earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people and displaced more than 1.5 million people. Since then, additional crises – including a cholera outbreak, Hurricane Matthew, political instability, escalating gang violence, civil unrest and poverty – have only exacerbated unsafe conditions in Haiti. The U.S. State Department currently maintains a “Level 4 Do Not Travel” warning for Haiti “due to the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest and limited health care,” and U.S. commercial flights are not operating to or from the capital of Port-au-Prince.
The coalition asks Congress to take immediate action to institute protections for Haitian TPS holders, including by passingH.R. 1689/S.4814, which has already passed in the House of Representatives. They also ask Congress to pass legislation allowing for judicial oversight and pathways to permanent legal residency for TPS holders. Judicial oversight would provide a necessary check on potential abuse of executive branch power by allowing for the impartial review of TPS decisions, including by allowing courts to determine whether the statutory requirements for the removal of a country’s TPS designation were followed.
Joining Attorney General Raoul are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
