There are currently four different legal challenges to Trump’s decision to suspend Temporary Protected Status for most countries. Developments in one particular case have ramifications for TPS holders from Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Sudan. We are working to ensure that this information gets out into communities affected as there continues to be much confusion about the timeframe.

We will continue to demand a permanent solution, one that offers a path to permanent residency and citizenship.

The following update is from Steve Forester, an attorney with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:

As a result of developments in the Ramos case, Haiti TPS WON’T end July 22!  It’ll go thru December at least, and no one who now has TPS needs to pay or do ANYTHING at all to benefit!  More good news: any Haitian who had TPS but doesn’t anymore because they didn’t reregister for it in either 2017 or 2018 may and should reregister now!  (But beware of rip-off artists: no one who now has TPS needs to pay anyone or do anything except show their employer a Fed Register Notice to be published in March extending TPS thru December!)

DETAILS OF THIS:  Due to TPS-related legal developments in the ongoing Ramos federal court case:

1)  TPS for Haitians will virtually certainly NOT end on July 22, 2019; the government in early March will automatically extend it to approximately January 1, 2020, and quite possibly will do so for another nine months beyond that date, to September, 2020; no one who properly re-registered for TPS needs to pay or do anything at all to benefit from this!

2)  Haitians with TPS who didn’t re-register for it in 2017 or 2018 out of fear, confusion, or another good reason can and should seek to reregister now; the gov’t has agreed to give such applications “presumptive weight” as being filed late for good cause—meaning they should be granted and then entitled to the TPS extensions described above/below!

More Details:

As you know, DHS’s November 2017 decision ending Haiti TPS, with an 18-month grace period set to expire on July 22, 2019, is being challenged in four federal district court suits, including the Ramos litigation in San Francisco. On October 3, 2018, Judge Chen in Ramos issued a preliminary injunction (“PI”) in the plaintiffs’ favor, blocking as unconstitutional, while the injunction remains in effect, implementation of DHS’s TPS termination decisions for Haiti, El Salvador, Sudan, and Nicaragua.

The U.S. government (“USG”) has appealed Judge Chen’s order to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals but has agreed, while the court’s order is in effect, to certain important measures. These measures are reflected in an October 31 Federal Register Notice (“FRN”) (“Continuation of Documentation for Beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status Designations for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador”) or in a declaration filed in Ramos by a high-ranking USG official.

These important protective measures include the following:

• Automatic 9 month extensions, starting in April 2019, unless there is a loss at a court of appeals: “DHS will issue another Federal Register Notice approximately 30 days before April 2, 2019, that will extend TPS for an additional nine months from April 2, 2019, for all affected beneficiaries under the TPS designations for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador.  DHS will continue to issue Federal Register Notices at nine-month intervals so long as the preliminary injunction remains in place and will continue its commitment to [an] orderly transition period, as described above.” (There’s no way the Ninth Circuit will decide by early March, much less the Supreme Court.  So the early March additional Federal Register Notice referenced above will issue.)

• TPS work and legal status will be automatic for those registered—no need to pay for employment authorization cards or further registration:Under the agreement, for as long as the district court’s order is in place, people with TPS who have re-registered previously – or who re-register late – will not need to register again or apply for a new EAD. They can rely on their existing (to-be-expired) EAD or TPS approval notice, as well as the Federal Register Notice, as valid authorization to work or as proof of legal status in the United States. They do not need to pay any further money to the US government, and should not need to pay for additional legal assistance either.

• Re-registration possible—and likely guaranteed—for people who did not re-register during the Trump Administration: Crucially, Haitians with TPS who didn’t reregister in 2017 or 2018 due to fear or other good reason can successfully do so now!  If they now reregister for TPS late for good cause, the USG will give their applications “presumptive weight” as being valid!  This means that any Haitian TPS recipient who failed to reregister in 2017 or 2018 should be successful in doing so now — late — if they explain that they didn’t reregister on time due to fear, confusion, or other good reason.  (This is extremely important for example for the estimated nearly 16,000 Haitians with TPS who let their TPS status lapse early this year by not trying to reregister!)

• No new terminations for these countries for now: The USG will not try to write new TPS termination notices for Haiti or the three other nations while the court’s order remains valid.

• At least 6 months additional protection even if there is a loss at a higher court: “In the event the preliminary injunction is reversed and that reversal becomes final, DHS will allow for an orderly transition period,” which effectively amounts to about six months from the date of any such hypothetical future final, non-appealable order. This means that – if the district court’s order is overturned on appeal (at the court of appeals or the Supreme Court), the earliest that TPS holders from these countries could lose their legal status is about 6 months after the appeals court’s decision.

Prompt congressional action for a longer-term solution remains key.  But please help spread this crucially important info for TPS’ers explained above in Haitian American communities! Haitians with TPS need to know they needn’t fear anything changing on July 22; and Haitians who used to have it but who failed to reregister for it under Trump need to know that they may and should reregister for it now to get its protections.

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Daily Dispatch

January 18, 2019

After Speaker Pelosi disinvited ‘Individual 1’ from giving the State of the Union address, the latter sent a letter revealing plans for Pelosi and a small delegation of lawmakers to visit troops in Egypt and Afghanistan, telling them they should fly commercial because he won’t let them use government aircraft until he gets his wall – ‘wittingly or unwittingly’ revealing commercial travel plans already in place and thus putting the safety of the congressional delegation at risk.

So, the state of our union remains…

Situation Normal: All Shut Down

Still, the Department of Justice is seeking to fill multiple AUSA positions in the Southern District of Texas (Brownsville and McAllen offices) “in support of border wall civil litigation” – aka eminent domain claims on private land needed to build the border wall.

And ‘Individual 1’ is tweeting about prayer rugs at the border:

Meanwhile, yesterday saw two new revelations regarding child separation. HHS’s Office of Inspector General released a report on “Separated Children Placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement Care,” which reveals that the child separation policy was in effect for nearly a year before the “zero-tolerance” policy was announced. Those separated before June 26, 2018 were informally tracked via an Excel spreadsheet. The OIG concludes:

“The total number of children separated from a parent or guardian by immigration authorities is unknown. Pursuant to a June 2018 Federal District Court order, HHS has thus far identified 2,737 children in its care at that time who were separated from their parents. However, thousands of children may have been separated during an influx that began in 2017, before the accounting required by the Court, and HHS has faced challenges in identifying separated children.” (More on the report.)

And more on family separation from NBC News: “Trump administration officials weighed speeding up the deportation of migrant children by denying them their legal right to asylum hearings after separating them from their parents, according to comments on a late 2017 draft of what became the administration’s family separation policy obtained by NBC News.”

The entire document is available. Here is a snippet:

Speaking of… Human Rights Watch released its World Report 2019, which includes this summary for the United States:

“The United States continued to move backward on human rights at home and abroad in the second year of President Donald Trump’s administration. With Trump’s Republican party controlling the legislative branch in 2018, his administration and Congress were able to pass laws, implement regulations, and carry out policies that violate or undermine human rights.

“Despite Trump signaling support for minimal reforms, his administration rolled back initiatives meant to reduce over-incarceration in the US, implemented an array of anti-immigration policies, and worked to undermine a national insurance program that helps Americans obtain affordable health care, including important reproductive care for women. The Trump administration also continued to support abusive governments abroad militarily, financially, and diplomatically.

“Though it has expressed support for some international initiatives aimed at sanctioning individuals and governments committing human rights abuses, overall administration policy undermined multilateral institutions and international judicial bodies seeking to hold people accountable for egregious human rights violations.”

Reuters reports on “$11 toothpaste: Immigrants pay big for basics at private ICE lock-ups.”

Finally, a timeline of Steve King’s very bad week.

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Daily Dispatch

January 17, 2019

Today’s news is pretty much the same as yesterday’s news: shutdown gridlock – no end in sight.

In an opinion piece for the Chicago Tribune, Rex Huppke has an idea: “End the shutdown; give Trump his wall. We need a monument to American stupidity.”

“This is all objectively stupid. So much so that this moment in our nation’s history deserves a monument, so we may never forget.

“And that’s what Donald Trump’s border wall should be: A poorly conceived, partially built memorial to mental mediocrity…

“Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the wall because they know it’s a waste of money and because it’s a lunkheaded symbol of isolationism and hate.

“So rebrand the concept. Consider it an investment in a national monument to the perils of willful ignorance and gamble that whatever fragment of a wall actually gets built will become a profitable tourist attraction, a must-visit national park that delivers a lesson in not believing everything you’re told…

“If Democrats let Trump proceed with the wall, it will become a testament to Trumpian incompetence and grift. And that will make for enlightening reading at the nearby Trump Border Wall Museum of American Stupidity, which will also feature a gift shop selling pieces of steel slats that were never used because construction was halted after the administration was busted for using Russian-made steel…

Insist that each brick (or slat) in the wall be inscribed with one of the more than 6,000 false or misleading statements, documented by the Washington Post fact-checker, that Trump has made since taking office. …

“It’s the year 2019 and our government is shut down and hundreds of thousands of Americans are suffering because one man who conned millions is obsessed over building a giant wall.

“That’s stupid. Dangerously stupid. And it’s worthy of a monument that will serve as a reminder of this dumb era, lest Americans ever forget the cost of stupidity run amok.”

Here is our artistic rendering of Huppke’s concept:

Pew has released a new report on border wall:  “A new Pew Research Center survey finds that majority of Americans (58%) continue to oppose substantially expanding the border wall, while 40% favor the proposal. Overall opinion on the wall is little changed from last year, but these views have never been more sharply divided along partisan lines: Republican support for the wall is at record high, while Democratic support has reached a new low. And both sides appear to be dug in.” Full report here. Topline here.

The Texas Tribune offers an overview of the shutdown’s effects at the border.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans release details of the “Fix the Immigration Loopholes Act,” which would end Flores protections.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jayapal (D-WA) reintroduces her budget amendment that would prevent transfer of funds from FEMA and other sub-agencies to pay for ICE detention.

More on the Shut Show:

Bloomberg Opinion: “Pelosi Knows How to Play Chicken. Trump Doesn’t.”

Politico: “Border agency officials push wall amid shutdown standoff”

USA Today: “5 reasons Trump may want a shutdown that have nothing to do with a wall”

Other Stories:

Los Angeles Times: “Trump doesn’t seem to understand anything about illegal immigration”

Detroit Free Press: “Detroit judge orders ICE to return Iraqi immigrant mistakenly deported”

NBC News: “ICE almost deported a U.S.-born Marine veteran, says ACLU”

The Charlotte Observer: “ICE agents ‘dragged’ man out of Mecklenburg courthouse Wednesday, witnesses say”

WaPo: “Top HUD official’s departure follows disagreements over housing policy and Puerto Rico disaster funds”