Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Nearly a million immigrants will continue to be allowed to live and work for the next two years in the United States under emergency legislation extended by Joe Biden in one of the last decrees of his presidency.
With Donald Trump hoping to expand his “America First” agenda after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election with strong anti-migrant rhetoric, this latest move from Biden will likely be taken personally by the president-elect.
The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) extension will cover those living in the United States from Venezuela, El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine and will run until the fall of 2026.
What is TPS?
A 1990 law signed by then-president George HW Bush allows the president (through the Secretary of Homeland Security) to grant immigrants in the United States the ability to live and work legally if their home countries aren’t safe because of armed conflict, natural disasters, or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”
The extensions will allow people from those countries who are currently protected under TPS to apply for another 18 months of protection from deportation and work permits.
TPS is granted for a given country for 18 to 24 months at a time, usually in the aftermath of a war, natural disaster, or other humanitarian emergency that prevent people from safely returning to their home countries.
Under Biden, a Trump-era decision to end TPS for Salvadorans was rescinded after a group of Latino officials pleaded with the outgoing president to continue TPS for people from those countries with “meritorious cases,” citing “horrific levels of violence that surged in recent years” in Ecuador, along with the oppression of the Ortega regime that has controlled Nicaragua for decades and “political and environmental conditions” in El Salvador.
Which nationalities are protected?
Currently, 17 countries have TPS designations, with nearly 1.1 million foreign nationals protected by TPS, currently living in all 50 states:
The Biden administration’s moves postpone the Trump administration’s ability to sunset TPS protections for these four countries. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants will benefit: the Biden administration estimates that 607,000 Venezuelans in the U.S. are protected by TPS, as well as 232,000 Salvadorans; 103,700 Ukrainians; and 1,900 Sudanese nationals.
What has Trump said?
Trump has repeatedly promised the “largest deportation operation in American history,” which would rely on a defunct, centuries-old and likely unconstitutional law infamously used to detain Japanese Americans during the Second World War.
His invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 would target foreigners for removal, without a hearing or due process, based solely on their place of birth or citizenship.
Asked if he would revoke Haitian migrants’ Temporary Protected Status, the president-elect said: “Absolutely. I’d revoke it, and I’d bring them back to their country.”
Trump was then pressed on what he would do if Haiti refused to receive the migrants.
“Well, they’re going to receive them. They’re going to receive them,” he maintained.
Haitian migrants are living and working in Springfield, Ohio, legally – but have been thrust into an unwelcome spotlight after Trump and his running mate JD Vance peddled baseless rumours that migrants were abducting and eating people’s pets.
Trump would direct his administration to deploy federal resources to use local law enforcement to arrest, jail and deport people living in the country without legal permission — a plan that would be swiftly met with legal challenges. The operation would also require the construction of “vast holding facilities” — detention camps — to hold people marked for removal.
People who have been removed from the country under that plan would face an “automatic 10-year sentence in jail with no possibility of parole” if they return, according to Trump.
Self-deportation
Trump and his allies are counting on this “self-deportation,” the idea that life can be made unbearable enough to make people leave.
Self-deportation helps Trump to achieve his goals without the government having to spend or do anything in such cases. Trump has long said he wanted to deport millions of migrants but never deported more than 350,000 a year in his first term. Only 41,500 detention beds are funded this year, so carrying out massive deportations has significant logistical hurdles.
“If you wanna self-deport, you should self-deport because, again, we know who you are, and we’re gonna come and find you,” Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan has said.
This post was originally published on here
