SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary legal protections that gave more than a million people from Haiti and Venezuela the right to live and work in the United States.
Plaintiff’s US District Judge Edward Chen’s ruling refers to the 600,000 Venezuelans whose temporary protection expired in April. It also protects about 500,000 Haitians.
Chen said that Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem’s actions to end and vacate the three expansions granted by the previous administration were arbitrary and whimsical.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Temporary protected status is a designation that the Secretary of Homeland Security can grant to people in the United States if the conditions of their homeland are deemed unsafe to return due to natural disasters, political instability, or other dangerous conditions.
Designations are granted for terms of 6, 12, and 18 months, and can be allowed to expand as long as the conditions remain miserable. This status prevents holders from being deported and allows them to work.
Soon after taking office, Noem overturned three extensions the previous administration had granted immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti, prompting lawsuits. Noem said conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had been improved and it was not in national interest to allow immigrants from the country to stay for temporary programs.
Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, massive unemployment and hunger. The country is plagued by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and a long-term crisis brought about by ineffective government.
Haiti was first designated by the TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed hundreds of thousands and left over 1 million homeless people. Haitians face widespread hunger and gang violence.
In the ruling, Chen said the presidential administration has enforced the law for 35 years based on the best available information and has consulted with other agencies to call it “a process that involves careful research and analysis. To date.”
He scolded the secretary, saying, “rescising the legal status of Venezuelans and Haitian TPS holders and sending them back to conditions that are dangerous enough to advise even the State Department of State to travel to their home country.”
The secretary’s actions in revoking the TPS are not only unprecedented in the way and speed it was taken, but also violated the law, Chen wrote.
