Overview:
New York Lawyer Common Letitia James co-led a coalition of 17 attorneys common in submitting an amicus transient to defend Short-term Protected Standing for greater than 350,000 Haitians. The transfer comes because the Trump administration seeks to finish TPS and appeals a federal court docket order blocking the termination.
NEW YORK — New York Lawyer Common Letitia James has joined a coalition of 17 different state attorneys common in urging a federal appeals court docket to protect Short-term Protected Standing (TPS) for greater than 350,000 Haitian immigrants.
In an amicus transient filed with the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the District of Columbia, James and the coalition ask the court docket to reject the federal authorities’s effort to carry a decrease court docket order that quickly blocked the termination of TPS for Haitians. The attraction follows a ruling by U.S. District Choose Ana C. Reyes that halted the Trump administration’s try to finish this system.
TPS permits immigrants from international locations dealing with armed battle, pure disasters or different extraordinary circumstances to reside and work legally in the USA for restricted intervals. Haiti first obtained the designation after the devastating 2010 earthquake, and it has been renewed a number of occasions since. Since Trump returned to the presidency in 2025, the Division of Homeland Safety just lately moved to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation.
James argued that ending TPS would destabilize households and hurt state economies, together with New York’s. Almost one in 4 TPS holders nationwide is Haitian, and a minimum of 56,000 Haitian TPS holders reside in New York, in accordance with a press launch from the legal professional common’s workplace. They contribute greater than $140 million yearly in state and native taxes and greater than $800 million to the state’s financial system, the discharge states.
“Day-after-day, Haitian immigrants contribute immensely to New York, from working in our faculties and hospitals to operating profitable small companies,” James stated within the assertion. She added that stripping authorized standing from tons of of hundreds of Haitians would “put households at risk and tear aside our communities.”
Latest submitting backs order that spared TPS
The submitting comes amid an escalating authorized battle over this system. Earlier this month, Reyes blocked the termination simply at some point earlier than TPS protections have been set to run out for roughly 350,000 Haitians. The administration has since appealed that call. Throughout a latest listening to, Reyes additionally addressed threats she obtained following her ruling.
Haitian elected officers, advocacy teams and group organizations have mounted a nationwide push to increase TPS, warning that ending the designation would separate households and deepen Haiti’s humanitarian disaster.
The attorneys common argue that terminating TPS wouldn’t solely strip work authorization from tons of of hundreds of Haitian immigrants but additionally cut back entry to employer-sponsored medical health insurance and create public well being dangers.
The case continues because the federal appeals court docket weighs whether or not to pause the district court docket’s order whereas litigation proceeds, a choice that would decide whether or not Haitian TPS holders stay protected within the months forward.