NEW YORK — The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) released a statement Thursday strongly condemning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Mullin v. Doe, warning that the ruling will harm local economies and significantly disrupt the lives of millions of people who could face deportation.
CMS is a self-described “nonpartisan educational institute” “dedicated to the study of international migration.” The organization believes the decision underscores “the urgent need for Congress to enact a permanent legislative solution” for the millions of people directly and indirectly affected.
According to publicly available case information from the U.S. Supreme Court, the question at the center of the case is the legality of terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS). According to the Supreme Court’s summary, the United States “Congress created TPS in 1990 to provide short-term humanitarian relief for aliens who cannot safely return to their home countries.”
Mullin v. Doe specifically concerns immigrants “from Syria and Haiti” who have been under TPS since 2012 because of regime change and an earthquake, respectively. That status was officially set to be revoked 90 days after September and November of last year. The plaintiffs, Syrian and Haitian nationals, argued under the “Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to stop the termination,” citing discrimination based on their race.
The APA is a complex law that is briefly summarized in a congressional report published on Congress’ official website. The APA “provides the general procedures for various types of rulemaking” that apply “to all agencies of the federal government.”
The relevant provision in Mullin v. Doe concerns judicial review of agency rules, which states that courts may set aside federal “agency action” if the administrative action is “contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity,” such as the Equal Protection Clause.
However, the Supreme Court declared that the law “allows no judicial review of any determination” with respect to the “termination of a TPS designation.”
Furthermore, while the Supreme Court heard arguments that a “TPS designation was terminated because of the racial makeup of that country’s population,” it concluded that “other arguments undermine the equal protection claim by offering a strong, race-neutral explanation for Haiti’s termination.”
The court’s explanation was that the current administration “has terminated every TPS designation that has come up for renewal” because of its opposition to “the TPS program” itself.
To CMS Executive Director C. Mario Russell, the decision ignores the reality of the situation in favor of a bureaucratic solution. According to Russell, “TPS was created to provide refuge to people who could not safely return home because of extraordinary humanitarian conditions,” and the Supreme Court’s decision did not cause those dangers to disappear. “For many recipients, those conditions persist today.”
This is in addition to the numerous lives CMS claims will be affected by the decision. Beyond the direct “harm it will cause to nearly 340,000 directly-impacted individuals,” CMS said it will also undermine the “broader TPS system, which provides protection to as many as 1.3 million people.”
Those individuals may also become more vulnerable to “fraudulent immigration service providers,” with the executive director urging affected TPS recipients to seek legal advice only from “qualified immigration attorneys or Department of Justice-accredited representatives.”
In CMS’ home state, “Thousands of Haitian New Yorkers have lived and worked in the region” and have “contributed to the United States’ growth and prosperity for years.” In the wake of the decision, CMS believes harm will come to the Haitian community, including its “families,” “businesses,” and “civic and religious” institutions.
In addition, “nearly 10 percent” of Haitian adults are “married to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents,” and “18 percent” “are parents of one or more U.S. citizen children.” CMS believes this is cumulative proof that “Haitian TPS recipients have meaningful family ties to the United States” and that their removal would cause significant and noticeable disruption.
Executive Director Russell believes the consequences of inaction are too great. According to him, “Congress should enact a permanent legislative solution that recognizes” the Syrian and Haitian immigrants’ “longstanding contributions and deep ties to communities across the United States.”
In the meantime, CMS advises “immigrant-serving organizations, legal service providers, and faith communities” to “anticipate increased demand for accurate legal information, individual legal consultations, and community education.”
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