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A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from ending immigration protections for thousands of Haitian families, writing in his 145-page ruling that “the plaintiffs offered persuasive evidence that the policy change was motivated by ‘a discriminatory purpose of removing non-white immigrants to the country,’” the Washington Post reports.
The ruling was mostly lost in the past few days of news that included Donald Trump openly admitting to wanting to use human beings as pawns and reportedly instructing border agents to violate U.S. law with a promise he’d take care of the jail stuff later. In ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants and putting their lives in limbo, the administration also wanted to just act now and worry about the details later.
U.S. District Judge William Kuntz’s ruling, the Washington Post continues, “cited evidence that officials from Homeland Security and other federal agencies ‘reverse engineered the TPS review process to achieve the desired political outcome: the termination of Haiti’s TPS’”—specifically, the desired outcome of White House aide and white supremacist Stephen Miller, who overruled the advice of career officials who had urged the continuation of protections.
But it was also Trump himself who made the case that he ended TPS out of racist spite. “In his ruling,” Bloomberg reported, “Kuntz also cited statements by Trump about immigrants from countries like Haiti, El Salvador and African nations that the president derided as ‘shithole countries.’ The president has denied using those words.” But he indeed did say it, and don’t forget that two Republican senators, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, heard it too but then shamelessly lied about it to cover for him.
The administration has already extended TPS for Haitian immigrants through January 2020 as a result of earlier court action, giving thousands a moment to breathe. It shouldn’t, however, be an excuse to delay on permanent protections. TPS beneficiaries, along with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival and Deferred Enforced Departure beneficiaries, shouldn’t have to keep living their lives from court decision to court decision. They need legal status now.