Jayapal Statement on SCOTUS Rulings Limiting Legal Immigration
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, released the following statement regarding today’s rulings from the Supreme Court on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in Mullin v. Doe and the asylum program in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado.
“These are disastrous immigration rulings from the right-wing Supreme Court that will put millions of lives at risk. The purpose of both TPS and asylum is to protect people from dangerous situations.
“By terminating TPS for countries in the midst of ongoing crises, Trump is punishing people for being stuck in a broken immigration system. He is not going after ‘the worst of the worst’ as he promised. He and Stephen Miller are going after highly vetted people, who risk death in returning to countries that remain deeply unsafe. And in targeting asylum, they are preventing the most vulnerable people from even seeking safety on our shores. Eliminating existing legal pathways like these will only cause chaos and hurt our economy and families.
“Congress must urgently act to give those individuals from countries that remain eligible for TPS status a roadmap to citizenship to end this limbo they are living in. And we must immediately pass legislation to re-establish asylum pathways. These decisions will only embolden already out of control immigration policy — and Congress must step in to protect lives.”
TPS is a designation that temporarily allows foreign nationals who are already in the United States to remain lawfully during periods that would prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely. Today’s ruling allows Trump to end the TPS designations for Haiti and Syria and will create precedent for his cancellations of other countries’ TPS to hold. Since coming to office, Trump has also moved to end the TPS designations for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Venezuela, Yemen, Somalia, and Ethiopia.
Asylum is a status granted to immigrants who have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home countries on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Today’s ruling allows Trump to turn back asylum seekers before they enter the United States, preventing them from having the opportunity to make an asylum claim.
Jayapal joined a Congressional amicus brief in the Mullin v. Doe case, which was signed by 183 Members of Congress. Jayapal joined a Congressional amicus brief in the Mullin v. Al Otro Lado case, which was signed by 26 Members of Congress.
Issues: Immigration