Maryland Attorney General News Releases Attorney General Frosh Joins Multistate Coalition Opposing Federal Efforts to Put Haitian-Born Residents at Risk of Deportation
Maryland Attorney General sent this bulletin at 12/30/2019 03:23 PM EST
Attorney General Frosh Joins Multistate Coalition Opposing Federal Efforts to Put Haitian-Born Residents at Risk of Deportation 21 Attorneys General Argue that Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti Is Illegal
BALTIMORE, MD (December 30, 2019) – Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh today joined a group of 21 attorneys general in challenging the Trump administration’s effort to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals. If the administration is allowed to move forward, Haitian TPS holders in Maryland, other states, and the District of Columbia would lose their legal status, leaving them vulnerable to deportation.
In an amicus brief filed in support of the plaintiffs in Saget v. Trump before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the coalition of attorneys general argue that the administration lacked a reasonable rationale for the move, violating the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The brief urges the Court of Appeals to affirm the lower court’s ruling and uphold a nationwide injunction against the termination to prevent widespread harm in the amici states.
Haiti first received TPS designation after the devastating earthquake of 2010. As early as March 2017, the Trump administration set out to reverse the designation. Political appointees in the administration pressured Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staffers to effectively manufacture a rationale for the change, pushing them to depart from established agency procedure by, for example, gathering criminality and welfare data on Haitian TPS beneficiaries. In November 2017, Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke announced that the agency would terminate TPS for Haiti but her own notes revealed that she still had not established a reason for the decision.
“Haitian immigrants living under TPS in the United States are here because their home country suffered unimaginable, and long-lasting, devastation after the 2010 earthquake and other natural disasters,” said Attorney General Frosh. “Terminating their status without justification is illegal and harms states like Maryland, which has welcomed hundreds of Haitian immigrants.”
In April 2019, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York held that DHS’s decision was unlawful and ordered a nationwide preliminary injunction. The Trump administration is now appealing the ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
In the brief, the attorneys general argue that the District Court’s rejection of the administration’s decision should be upheld because:
In addition to Maryland, the brief was joined by the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
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