Some people immigrate to the United States because their homeland is not safe to live in. The federal government recognizes this, and thus implemented a special immigration program known as the Temporary Protected Status program. The current presidential administration ordered that this program should be ended, but Kentucky residents may be interested to hear that a federal judge has ruled that doing so is unlawful.
The Temporary Protected Status program provided protection to individuals whose homelands were under a state of war or experienced a significant natural disaster. It allowed these individuals to reside and work in the United States. The current presidential administration issued an order to end this program for immigrants from certain countries. However, a federal judge recently ruled that the TPS should not be ended.
The judge in this case determined that the presidential administration did not follow federal rule-making guidelines when issuing an order to end the program, placed staffers under undue political pressure and that the order was in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. This ruling placed a preliminary injunction on the executive order.
Under this ruling, the approximately 240,000 individuals from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti and El Salvador that had been ordered to either leave the U.S. voluntarily by November or face deportation as undocumented immigrants can remain in the U.S. The judge determined that the federal government would not immediately be harmed if the order to end the TPS is put to a temporary stop, but that those affected by the order would experience enduring, longstanding harm if they were required to leave the U.S.
It remains to be seen if this ruling will be appealed. However, it is good news for those who are in the country under the TPS program. These people deserve to be protected from being deported to nations that are not safe to live in. By being allowed to reside and work in the U.S., these individuals can be saved from the harm they would suffer if they faced deportation and removal.
