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Coalition of 19 Attorneys General Urging Court to Postpone Trump
Administration’s Early Terminations of TPS Designation for Haitians
and Venezuelans
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a
multistate coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Haitian-Americans
United, et al., v. Trump in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, supporting the plaintiffs’
challenge to the Trump administration’s unprecedented early terminations of Temporary
Protected Status (TPS) designation for Haiti and Venezuela. The coalition is urging the court to
grant the plaintiffs’ request to postpone the terminations while litigation challenging them
proceeds, arguing that the terminations would irreparably harm the coalition states’ families and
economies.
TPS is a U.S. humanitarian program that allows nationals of designated countries to legally stay
in the U.S. for a specified period of time due to ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters,
or other extraordinary conditions in their homelands.
Despite ongoing humanitarian crises in both Haiti and Venezuela, the Trump administration has
partially terminated TPS for Haitians and fully terminated TPS for Venezuelans who were
provided that legal status in 2023. The respective terminations decrease the amount of time
Haitian TPS holders are allowed to stay in the U.S. from 18 months to just 12 months and will
imminently subject Venezuelan TPS holders to deportation.
The Trump administration’s terminations of TPS for Haitians and Venezuelans strips these TPS
holders of legal status and protections, subjecting them to detention and deportation and
preventing them from working legally. The terminations are estimated to impact nearly 260,000
Haitian TPS holders and a large number of the current 600,000 Venezuelan TPS holders
throughout the United States. These Haitian and Venezuelan TPS holders compromise the
majority of the estimated 1.1 million individuals residing in the United States who are either
recipients of or are eligible for TPS. In Maryland, roughly 27,100 individuals are TPS holders,
by some estimates.
Attorney General Brown and the coalition caution that the early terminations would deplete the
states’ workforce and economies, compromise public health and safety, and painfully separate
children from their families.
Harm to States’ Workforce and Economies
The coalition highlights that the terminations would significantly deplete the states’ workforce
and related tax revenue. A recent estimate found that in Maryland alone, TPS holders
collectively earned $1.3 billion in household income and paid nearly $324.4 million in local,
state, and federal taxes, contributing $934.8 million to total spending power.
It is also estimated that TPS-eligible Haitians and Venezuelans contribute $15.9 billion annually
to the national economy. A recent estimate found that nearly 218,000 TPS-eligible Haitians and
Venezuelans worked in labor-short industries, such as accommodation and food, business, and
healthcare services.
Maryland and the coalition states would face significant costs to rehire or recruit care workers to
fill these positions, as care-giving positions can be challenging to fill in both the private and
public sector.
Harm to Public Health and Public Safety
The coalition also recognizes that the removal of work authorizations caused by the terminations
of TPS would deprive many TPS holders of employer-sponsored private health insurance.
The coalition further explains that the terminations would compromise public safety, especially
as, due to the fear of detention and deportation, undocumented individuals are less likely to
report crime and engage with law enforcement, including when they themselves are victims.
Despite the Trump administration’s unfounded claims that the arrival of recent Haitian and
Venezuelan immigrants has led to a “crime wave,” research indicates that immigrants are less
likely to commit crimes than American-born individuals.
Harm to Families, Children, Schools, and Communities
Moreover, the coalition describes how the terminations of TPS would risk the traumatic
separations of citizen children from their TPS-holding parents, tearing apart families and
communities. In 2022, it was estimated that over 330,000 U.S. citizens, including children, live
in “mixed status” households consisting of both U.S. citizens and TPS holders. The terminations
would thus force some TPS holders to choose between returning to their country of origin alone,
leaving their children behind in broken families or in the foster care system; taking their U.S.
citizen children with them to a dangerous country that the children do not know; or unlawfully
staying in the U.S. under the constant fear of deportation, unable to legally work.
The coalition also cautions that the fear of deportation caused by the terminations would
adversely impact the mental health of children and families, likely leading to decreased school
attendance and other community-based activities.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California,
Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island,
Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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