Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Deporting Sudanese Migrants
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Deporting Sudanese Migrants
Last week, a federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration from deporting Sudanese migrants a week before their protected status was to expire.
According to the New York Times, Judge Angel Kelley’s decision temporarily extends deportation protections for 230 South Sudanese nationals currently living and working in the United States through Temporary Protected Status. The Temporary Protected Status program allows migrants from countries in crisis to reside in America for their safety and well-being.
Kelley cited the “serious, long-term consequences, including the risk of deadly harm,” that could come to the migrants should they be deported.
“These significant and far-reaching consequences not only deserve, but require, a full and careful consideration of the merits by the court,” Kelley wrote. Had Kelley not issued the block, the protected status for the Sudanese migrants would have expired on Jan. 6.
President Donald Trump has made several moves this year to revoke protected status for migrants from several politically unstable countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. If you ever needed proof that his mass immigration campaign was never rooted in anything other than racism, there you go. Most of these people don’t have criminal records and simply came to America to build a better life for themselves. As a result of the perpetual instability in many of these countries, the Temporary Protected Status can often result in a long-term, if not permanent, residence in the United States.
In November, the Trump administration moved to revoke the Temporary Protected Status from Sudanese migrants. The Department of Homeland Security cited improvements in “South Sudan’s civil safety outlook” to justify the move, though recent reports from the United Nations push back against that notion.
From the New York Times:
Still, the decision came as the United Nations warned of intensifying armed clashes in South Sudan and deepening food insecurity in the country, which is home to about 11 million people. Under T.P.S., foreign nationals are allowed to stay in the United States for set time periods when a crisis makes returning to their home countries unsafe. But for some migrants, T.P.S. has become an all-but permanent status because extreme upheaval has continued in their home countries and the United States has repeatedly extended the program.
Four South Sudanese migrants holding protected status, joined by a New York-based immigration rights’ group, African Communities Together, sued the Trump administration a week ago in a bid to preserve the program. Some 70 South Sudanese migrants have pending applications for the status, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit filed by the migrants argued that, should they lose their Temporary Protected Status, they would be faced with an “impossible choice,” between staying in the United States and risking deportation or returning to their home country where “their lives would assuredly” be at risk.
While I’d love to say this is the first step toward South Sudanese migrants regaining their Temporary Protected Status, recent moves by the Supreme Court put that in question. In October, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to revoke the status of over 300,000 Venezuelan migrants.
I’d love for someone to explain how deporting migrants who are here legally and want to work and live in peace makes America great.
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