US homeland security secretary tells migrants to seek permanent status or leave | Trump administration
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said immigrants with temporary protected status in the United States should seek permanent residence or a permit, following last week’s Supreme Court decision that stripped hundreds of thousands of immigrants of their humanitarian protection rights.
The remarks on CNN’s State of the Union program follow a decision that could allow Donald Trump’s administration to deport Haitian and Syrian immigrants to countries plagued by conflict and poverty.
“Either you try to fill out the paperwork and be here under permanent status, or we will help you get back to your country,” Mullin said.
“We will actually give you a plane ticket plus about $2,100 to help you resettle when you get there, but according to the courts and his name, temporary protected status is not a permanent status,” he added.
Federal law allows the administration to grant temporary legal residence in the United States to individuals fleeing war, disaster, or other circumstances.
The status has previously been repeatedly renewed, and despite the move to end those protections, the state department currently warns against travel to Haiti or Syria, citing widespread violence, crime, terrorism and kidnappings.
The United States first provided temporary protected status (TPS) to Haitians after the devastating earthquake in 2010 and to Syrians after their country descended into civil war in 2012.
Thursday’s high court decision is expected to affect an estimated 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian immigrants who currently face detention or deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to expiring protections.
Haitian TPS holders and advocates widely condemned the decision and warned that it would negatively impact the lives of thousands of people who have lived and worked in the United States for decades.
Haitian residents in Springfield, Ohio expressed despair about the future effects of ending TPS protections. During the 2024 election, Trump falsely accused the Haitians living in the town of eating other people’s pets. The repeated insults led to bomb threats as well as white supremacist marches in the city.
But the high court’s conservative majority found that Haitians suing the administration were unlikely to succeed in their claims that the administration’s actions were racially biased.
“It’s going to be painful for Springfield. When I came here, this area was dead. This plaza 1782676802 “Seven Haitian businesses,” Franky Pierre told the Guardian on Thursday after the decision. Pierre is a Haitian immigrant who came to the United States with his family during the 1991 military coup to overthrow then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Pierre added: “All of these people are going to have to flee or go somewhere, which I’m pretty sure will start tonight,” referring to TPS holders.
Republicans also criticized the high court’s decision. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called Thursday’s decision a “mistake.” “The situation in Haiti couldn’t get any worse. Violent gangs run most of the country. The government is barely functioning,” DeWine said Thursday. “And the economy is in shambles.”
Other Republican congressmen, including Mike Lawler of New York and Don Bacon of Nebraska, criticized Thursday’s decision and argued that TPS should be extended for Haitian immigrants.
In total, 1.7 million people from 17 countries have temporary protection status. Immigration advocates worry that the Trump administration could target TPS for other immigrants, effectively ending the 1990 program.
