Haiti TPS holders alert justices to documents that ‘undercut’ Trump bid to end protections

The justices agreed last month to consider the issue that has been litigated regarding TPS protections for people from several countries, in addition to Haiti and Syria. In a series of cases, lower courts have rejected termination decisions made by Kristi Noem when she was the head of the Department of Homeland Security. In response, the Trump administration launched urgent appeals to the justices, complaining that lower court judges have been unlawfully second-guessing government decisions. The justices agreed to review the issue jointly in the Haiti and Syria cases, but in doing so, the high court kept the lower court rulings in favor of the protections in place for now.

Oral argument is set for April 29, and a ruling is expected later in the spring or early summer, when the justices issue the final decisions in cases argued this term.

In the Haiti litigation, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden appointee, wrote that Noem, who was since replaced as Homeland Security chief by Markwayne Mullin, “has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants,” but that, as DHS secretary, she was “constrained by both our Constitution and the APA [Administrative Procedure Act] to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program. The record to-date shows she has yet to do that.”

Reyes noted that the president “has made — freely, at times even boastfully — several derogatory statements about Haitians and other nonwhite foreigners.” Among other things, she recounted that he called Haiti a “s—hole country,” suggested Haitians “probably have AIDS” and complained that their immigration to the U.S. is “like a death wish for our country.”

A divided federal appeals court panel in Washington declined the administration’s request to lift the district court order. The two Democratic appointees in the majority said the government couldn’t show why it needed instant relief, whereas Haitians face “substantial and well-documented harms” if they lose protections, including “risk of detention and deportation, separation from family members, and loss of work authorization.” Trump appointee Justin Walker dissented, arguing that the government is irreparably harmed by courts intruding into executive policy. He also emphasized the “temporary” nature of TPS.