Clarke, Moore blast US Supreme Court decision on TPS protection for Haitians

Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke has harshly criticised the ruling by the United States Supreme Court to remove Temporary Protected Status from Haitians and Syrians.

In a ruling handed down last week, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Donald Trump administration to remove protections for Haitians and Syrians under the TPS that allow foreign citizens to stay in the United States (US) when the US government believes it is not safe for them to return to their countries.

In a six to three ruling, the conservative majority paused rulings by federal courts in Washington DC, and New York that had barred the administration from ending the TPS protection.

Clarke in a statement issued after the ruling said that “again and again, this MAGA-corrupted Supreme Court has proven there are no lengths it will not go to disgrace itself in fealty and service of Donald Trump”. 

She added: “Today’s despicable ruling to allow the Trump Administration to ignore the law and abandon any semblance of human decency by prematurely terminating TPS for Haiti and Syria is devastating on a scale that shocks the conscience – for the more than 350,000 TPS holders who have now lost legal status, for our communities that will soon lose neighbours, loved ones, hardworking employees, and business leaders, and for America’s moral standing in our world that continues to collapse under the weight of this president’s relentless humanitarian betrayals.”

She said that from the moment they arrived in the US, Haitian and Syrian TPS holders – most of whom arrived at the invitation of the US government – have dedicated themselves to contributing to it.

“They have built businesses, built families, and built up their communities. And, through their undeniable strength of character and resilient spirit, they have become an inseparable part of this country’s social fabric. While the crises confronting their home nations only escalate, they have come to embody exactly what it means to be Americans, just as the many waves of immigrants before them have done since this country’s founding.

“Haiti and Syria continue to face dire conditions driven by natural disasters, civil unrest, rampant gang violence, and the collapse of governmental institutions. If our own State Department deems these nations too dangerous for Americans to travel to, how can we justify forcing nationals to return to those same conditions? We cannot. There simply is no justification. And yet, with their legal status ripped out from beneath them, our neighbours are now facing deportation to the same desperate conditions they narrowly escaped with their lives.

“SCOTUS is more than eager to prove to this president that it has no interest in serving its constitutional role as a check on the executive’s power, but instead only as an enabler of its worst abuses. Unfortunately, Congress has stood by and waited for this activist court to recalibrate its duty to the law and America’s well-being. That time has not come, nor will it ever in my humble estimation. It’s clear now that this legislative body must seize back the power that our increasingly unequal branches have stolen, and that must start with action to protect the hundreds of thousands of TPS holders whose lives depend upon it,” she said.

Clarke, joined by several of her congressional colleagues as well as several Haitian and other civic organisations, staged a protest outside the Supreme Court Building against the court’s decision.

Also criticising the Supreme Court’s decision is Maryland Governor Wes Moore who called the move a betrayal of “our Haitian and Syrian neighbours”.

He said that Haitian and Syrian Americans are a critical part of the nation’s fabric and play an important role in Maryland’s communities.

“They’ve spent years in our country building their lives, starting families, contributing to our communities and our economy. Forcing Haitians and Syrians to return to their home countries is dangerous and inhumane,” he said.

Lester Hinds