Some longtime Illinois residents are at risk of deportation following the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from Haiti and Syria. TPS designations are chosen for foreign nations with conditions that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, when the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately. The program allows individuals to live and work in the U.S. legally.
More than 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians nationwide could be impacted. Haiti was first designated for the TPS program in 2010 under the Obama administration when the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the island, and Syria received its TPS designation in 2012 shortly after civil war began. In the years that followed, those designations were extended following federal review. “Haiti has suffered so many setbacks,” said Darryl Auguste, secretary of the Haitian American Lawyers Association of Illinois. “The assassination of the president, Jovenel (Moïse), the influx of gangs throughout the country in conjunction with the economic depreciation. … Haiti is in total disarray in regards to anyone, not even people on TPS, but anyone to return to the country.”
More context: About 260 Haitian families in Illinois are affected by the federal ruling.
There may still be avenues for Haitian and Syrian people to stay in the country, Auguste said, naming asylum, work visas and refugee status as possible paths forward for those impacted. According to the U.S. Department of State, Haiti and Syria maintain a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory. For Syria, the department says there’s a high risk of terrorism, unrest, kidnapping, hostage-taking, crime and armed conflict. “We are talking about people who are already here,” said Ali Tarokh, director of development and communications at the Syrian Community Network. “They are part of our economy, they are hard workers and they are members of our society. … Sending them back to those countries, which is dangerous for U.S. citizens, is dangerous for those people (nationals) as well.”
