Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Lori A. Nessel, a law professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, told BI that another Trump presidency could lead to the mass deportation of “lawful, hardworking members of the community who have been given permission to reside here.”
“If he becomes president, I think there is certainly reason to be concerned that we might see another order ending TPS for Haitians and other nations like Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Sudan,” she added.
Nessel notes that migrants may qualify for another type of immigration status through their jobs or marriage, or may already be in the US on humanitarian parole, but she predicts that any decision to end TPS for Haitians would be met with fierce resistance.
Indeed, it already was once before when Trump sought to end TPS for certain countries during his last administration.
Legal resistance would probably follow
During Trump’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security ordered an end to TPS for nearly 60,000 Haitians.
“The litigation that ensued alleged that the decision to end TPS was unlawful on many grounds,” Nessel said, with plaintiffs arguing that it was motivated by racial discrimination, in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee to due process, and in violation of TPS holders’ constitutional right to equal protection.
Ultimately, the order was rescinded by the Biden administration.
However, according to Julia Gelatt, associate director of the US Immigration Policy Program, history may guide any future Trump administration’s approach to ending TPS.
Gelatt told BI that a second-time Trump administration would likely take a slower, more deliberate approach to ending TPS, potentially using a more cautious rulemaking process to make it “more litigation-proof.”
She added: “The announcement could come quickly, but the actual timeline of when Haitian TPS holders would lose their protections, I’m less certain about. It could be a slower process.”
During Trump’s last term, Gelatt said that uncertainty about TPS caused significant anxiety among Haitian migrants, with many trying to move to Canada to avoid deportation to Haiti.
Many had spent years building a life in the US, away from the insecurity and danger of their homeland.
“I think it’s just important context that there’s already been a wave of great concern in the Haitian community about the end of TPS,” Gelatt said.