Explaining Sec. Mullin’s ‘Controversial’ Statements on What ‘Ending TPS’ Means

Summary

O n Sunday, DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) Secretary Markwayne Mullin appeared on CNN, where host Jake Tapper asked him what the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS (Temporary Protected Status)) means for the “350,000 protected status holders right now”. Doe , which was issued by the Supreme Court last Thursday. Nationals of those countries — regardless of their immigration status here — can then apply with USCIS (U.S. immigration agency) for TPS, and while designations are usually effective for up to 18 months, DHS secretaries can renew them and in many cases have done so — for decades and for reasons well beyond the scope of the initial designation. Congress created TPS when it added section 244 to the INA in 1990 , and it understood that granting a temporary reprieve from removal for tens of thousands of nationals of any given country would create a constituency that would make it politically difficult to terminate any given TPS designation. Not surprisingly, that opinion has triggered significant backlash from advocates who complain that the Court’s “unjustifiable decision” will result in crises in the “healthcare, childcare and elder care” industries (and across the economy as a whole), while whipping up panic in immigrant communities that ICE (immigration enforcement agency) officers will soon be rolling in. The whole time these individuals have been here underneath the temporary protected status, they could have applied for a visa, they could have applied for [lawful permanent residence, “LPR”, i.e., a “green card”], they could have applied for different directions . ... Most of the 350,000-plus Haitians and Syrians who currently have TPS status aren’t under final orders of removal, which means DHS now must either recalendar their removal hearings (if they were “administratively closed” while they had TPS) or (worse) place them into removal proceedings under section 240 of the INA as an initial matter. While those aliens had TPS status, they could have applied with USCIS for “affirmative asylum” under section 208 of the INA, and likely should have if they had a real fear of persecution back home. That said, noting in sections 244 or 208 of the INA required them to apply affirmatively for protection, but if they had done so and were granted asylum under the lenient USCIS rules under the Biden administration, they likely would have green cards by now. And, if they are eligible for a nonimmigrant visa (like an F-1 student visa student visa) and didn’t accrue more than 180 days of unlawful status here before receiving TPS, they could have left the United States and returned in lawful nonimmigrant status or could do so now.