Trump’s presidency continues its efforts to destabilize the American democracy by revoking the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 22,000 legal immigrants. In a surprising but not unexpected move considering his views on immigration and his “America first” rhetoric. This new change will affect, for now, nationals of Afghanistan and Cameroon.
This program was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and was considered for decades a humanitarian program. Created in 1990 by the US Congress, this initiative allowed those fleeing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary conditions legal residence in the US as well as the ability to work without the fear for deportation. As it was a specific program that only very select people and nationalities could apply for, the numbers are not huge, but the impact, especially to the larger international community was.
The ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and the consequences for the recipients
While it might seem like this is just more crackdown on illegal immigrants, those who reside in the country thanks to TPS are in the US legally and are extremely controlled by DHS. So much so that the program has very clear conditions and it is temporary, granted only for 6, 12, or 18 months periods, although it can be renewed (it often is) based on the conditions for the person and their country of origin.
Since the conditions to receive this very temporary asylum need to be quite dire, there are only about one million immigrants from 17 countries living in the US under this program, and the 14,600 Afghans and 7,900 Cameroonians that have had their status revoked so suddenly and without any real explanation are now left untethered with nowhere to go.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to Fox News Digital attempted an explanation based on the decision that had been taken by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the State Department but fell quite short of giving reasons. “The Secretary determined that Afghanistan no longer continues to meet the statutory requirements for its TPS designation and so she terminated TPS for Afghanistan.”
The opposition to this decision has been quite loud and leaves no doubt about the importance of maintaining these kinds of programs in a country that prides itself on human rights and humanitarian and military efforts for peace. Shawn VanDriver, a military veteran and the president of #AfghanEvac, one of the main advocacy groups advocating for the decision to be overturned, expressed his disappointment with the measure “[This move] undermines everything America claimed to stand for when we promised not to leave our allies behind.”
And he is not the only one, other representatives for #AfghanEvac and No One Left Behind have described the decision as “cruel,” “chaotic,” and a betrayal of America’s promises to those who supported U.S. military efforts abroad.
But as it is usual with this new presidency, the bad news are only just beginning. After revoking TPS for Afghans and Cameroonians the new administration, fully backed by the Republican party is attempting to expand the rollback to other countries, specifically for Venezuelan immigrants.
This is another piece of bad news that comes out just months after former President Biden extended the protection for them given the past and current political climate in the country. Luckly, as it has happened with plenty of other questionable decisions for this administration a federal judge blocked the efforts to rescind protections to Venezuelans, giving them a little more time to sort out their status if they are under TPS protection.
The current Administration’s efforts to dismantle the way international diplomacy has been conducted for years is unsettling, but luckily organizations and advocates are stepping up to curtail their efforts and ty to keep them accountable to the law.