Trump administration can end deportation protections for Afghans
The government in April said it would end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) — which grants migrants whose home nations are considered unsafe protection from deportation and work permits for a limited period — for people from Afghanistan and Cameroon.
The administration had planned to stop the TPS for Afghans last week, while the programme is due to end for Cameroonians on 4 August. The decision is expected to affect an estimated 11,700 Afghans and 5,200 Cameroonians, government data shows.
CASA, a non-profit immigrant advocacy group, sued the administration over the TPS revocation for citizens from those two countries. It said the decisions were racially motivated and failed to follow a process laid out by Congress.
The Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia said in a ruling late on Monday that CASA has a plausible case against the government and directed a lower court to "move expeditiously" to hear the lawsuit.
However, the appeals court said there was "insufficient evidence to warrant the extraordinary remedy of a postponement" of the Trump administration's decision not to extend TPS for people from Afghanistan and Cameroon.
In other words, the protections have ended while the lawsuit plays out.
The appeals court also said many of the TPS holders from the two countries may be eligible for other legal protections that remain available to them.
'Dire' conditions in Afghanistan
However, without an extension, TPS holders from Afghanistan and Cameroon face a 'devastating choice", CASA had warned in court documents.
"Abandon their homes, relinquish their employment, and uproot their lives to return to a country where they face the threat of severe physical harm or even death, or remain in the United States in a state of legal uncertainty while they wait for other immigration processes to play out," the non-profit had said.
TPS is precarious because it is up to the Homeland Security secretary to renew the protections regularly — usually every 18 months.
The Trump administration has pushed to remove TPS from people from seven countries, with hundreds of thousands of migrants from Venezuela and Haiti affected the most.
Homeland Security officials said in their decision to end TPS for Afghans that the situation in their home country was getting better. Several NGOs disagree with that.
"Ending TPS does not align with the reality of circumstances on the ground in Afghanistan," Global Refuge President and CEO Krish O'Mara Vignarajah said in a statement.
"Conditions remain dire, especially for allies who supported the US mission, as well as women, girls, religious minorities, and ethnic groups targeted by the Taliban."
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