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A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians is creating uncertainty for people who have relied on the program to live and work in the United States.

Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, allows people from countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions to remain in the United States temporarily and receive work authorization.

For people who lose TPS, the consequences can be significant. They may lose protection from deportation and their ability to work legally in the United States unless they qualify for another form of immigration relief.

Ana Pottratz Acosta, an associate professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, says the Supreme Court case focused on how courts can review the government’s process for ending TPS protections.

“It limits the ability of courts to do any type of judicial review of the process that was laid out by Congress,” Pottratz Acosta said. 

The ruling does not end TPS as a program, but it allows the administration to continue moving forward with ending protections for Haitians and Syrians while legal challenges continue.

Pottratz Acosta says TPS was created as a form of humanitarian protection for people who cannot safely return to their home countries.

“It's intended to grant people protection on humanitarian grounds,” she said. 

She says the program allows people to apply for work authorization while their countries are designated for TPS.

There are an estimated 4,000 Haitians who live in Minnesota. For many of them, the administration’s decision to end TPS is personal. Rose Mingo-Holtz is originally from Haiti and has lived in Minnesota for more than three decades. She is the founder, director and teacher at Mes Amis French School in Hopkins.

Mingo-Holtz is a U.S. citizen, but she says TPS affects people she knows and cares about.

“It's devastating. It's devastating because even for me, who wants to go and visit the country, I can't.”

She says she worries about Haitians who may have to return to a country where they could face danger.

“For those who have to go back, and they don't know if they really have a home, or if they are safe, you know, it's really the safety situation,” she said. 

Mingo-Holtz says many Haitians who came to the United States were looking for safety and a chance to build a life and people that rely on TPS are not looking for a handout, but an opportunity.

“Their purpose is to try to have the American dream, and what I mean by that is just like everybody else, to make a living.” 

Pottratz Acosta says losing TPS does not necessarily mean every person immediately loses the ability to remain in the United States. Some may qualify for other forms of immigration relief but losing TPS removes an important form of protection.

“By losing TPS, it takes away one of those forms of protection. So people are feeling very vulnerable.”

For Mingo-Holtz, TPS represents more than a legal designation. “It's giving them a life to live. I mean, hope, security.”

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Sarah Thamer

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The Supreme Court’s June 25 ruling does not end TPS as a program, but it allows the administration to continue moving forward with ending protections for Haitians and Syrians while legal challenges continue.

Minnesota Haitians worry about what comes next as TPS protections come to an end

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