Legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants at risk after court talks collapse - CBS News

Negotiations betwixt the Biden medication and attorneys representing hundreds of thousands of immigrants surviving successful the U.S. nether a impermanent humanitarian programme collapsed this week, paving the mode for Trump-era decisions to revoke their ineligible presumption to instrumentality effect absent tribunal intervention.

After much than a twelvemonth of national tribunal talks, the Biden medication and the immigrants' lawyers failed to forge an statement implicit ways to support groups of immigrants who the Trump medication decided should nary longer beryllium allowed to unrecorded and enactment successful the U.S. nether the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

Due to the talks' collapse, roughly 337,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras could suffer their quality to unrecorded successful the U.S. legally nether TPS arsenic aboriginal arsenic adjacent year, aft a play of clip for the authorities to upwind down the program. TPS allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to connection deportation protections and enactment permits to immigrants from countries with equipped conflict, biology disasters oregon different "extraordinary" emergencies.

Lawyers representing the Central American and Nepali immigrants said the 2 parties determined connected Tuesday that the Biden medication would not hold to their proposals for a colony successful the years-long tribunal lawsuit implicit the Trump administration's efforts to terminate the TPS programs.

Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer representing immigrants successful the case, said the nonaccomplishment to scope a compromise means the Biden medication volition beryllium defending the Trump administration's decisions to terminate TPS protections for tens of thousands of immigrants.

"The government's presumption present and its behaviour implicit the past 18 months is profoundly inconsistent with the president's committedness to support this community," said Arulanantham, who is besides the co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy. "This assemblage has lived successful limbo and fearfulness the past 18 months waiting for the Biden medication to fulfill its committedness and support them."

During the 2020 statesmanlike campaign, President Biden vowed to forestall the deportation of TPS holders to "unsafe" countries.

A DHS spokesperson said the section could not remark connected pending litigation. "Current TPS holders from El Salvador, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Honduras volition proceed to beryllium protected implicit the coming months," the spokesperson added.

As of the extremity of 2021, 241,699 Salvadorans, 76,737 Hondurans, 14,556 Nepalis and 4,250 Nicaraguans were enrolled successful the TPS program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data.

Activists and citizens with Temporary Protected Status march adjacent the White House connected Sept. 23, 2022. OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

The colony negotiations that ended this week stemmed from a suit filed successful 2018 against the Trump administration's determination to halt allowing hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti and El Salvador to unrecorded successful the U.S. nether the TPS authority. 

A national justice successful California successful Oct. 2018 barred the Trump medication from ending the TPS programs for these countries, saying officials did not adequately warrant the determination and that the terminations raised "serious questions" astir whether they stemmed from animus against non-White immigrants. As portion of the case, the Trump medication agreed to intermission its effort to extremity TPS programs for Honduras and Nepal.

In Sept,. 2020, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit set aside the little tribunal injunction, saying courts could not 2nd conjecture DHS' TPS decisions. The three-judge sheet besides said it did not find a nonstop nexus betwixt President Donald Trump's disparaging comments astir non-White immigrants and the TPS terminations.

The 9th Circuit ruling, however, did not instrumentality effect due to the fact that attorneys representing the TPS holders asked the tribunal to see rehearing the lawsuit "en banc," oregon with each progressive judges participating. Soon aft Mr. Biden took bureau successful 2021, his medication entered colony talks with the lawyers for TPS holders, pausing the tribunal case.

Over the past twelvemonth and a half, the Biden medication announced extensions of the TPS programs for Haitian and Sudanese immigrants surviving successful the U.S., but it has not announced akin moves for immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras.

Now that the colony negotiations person ended, the 9th Circuit volition beryllium capable to determine whether it volition assistance oregon contradict the petition to rehear the case, said Arulanantham, the lawyer representing TPS holders.

While the TPS programs for El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras are technically acceptable to expire connected Dec. 31, arsenic outlined by a authorities announcement, DHS agreed to supply a 120-day upwind down termination play for Hondurans, Nepalis and Nicaraguans, arsenic good arsenic a 365-day upwind down play for Salvadorans from the day the authorities is allowed to extremity the policies.

That means the TPS programs for Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua could expire aboriginal adjacent twelvemonth if the 9th Circuit denies the re-hearing petition earlier Nov. 30, according to Arulanantham. But if the petition is granted, oregon not decided by Nov. 30, Arulanantham said the TPS programs volition beryllium extended for different 9 months arsenic portion of a stipulation successful the tribunal case.

Arulanantham said the Biden medication could person avoided this concern by extending the TPS programs for El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras, conscionable similar it did for Haiti and Sudan. 

The Biden medication is overseeing a record precocious fig of TPS programs, utilizing the authorization to support 16 groups from deportation, including immigrants from Venezuela, Myanmar, Haiti, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Cameroon and Ethiopia.

Arulanantham said the programs' imaginable demise would besides impact respective 100 1000 U.S.-born children of TPS holders, immoderate of whom person lived successful the U.S. for implicit 2 decades. 

"I find it truthful disappointing that the Biden medication had a wide accidental to extremity that suffering for each of these American kids and failed to bash so," helium said.

Editor's note: An earlier mentation of this communicative stated that TPS programs for El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras could expire arsenic aboriginal arsenic Dec. 31. While they are technically acceptable to expire connected that date, DHS has agreed to instrumentality a 365-day wind-down play for Salvadorans and 120-day wind-down for the different nationalities.