DON GONYEA, HOST:
This week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that allows the Trump administration to revoke temporary protected status from hundreds of thousands of people. That could lead to mass deportations of Haitians and Syrians who have TPS status and protections, some of whom have been living in the United States for years. TPS was enacted by Congress in 1990 and applied to migrants who could not return safely to their home countries because of extremely dangerous conditions.
Joining us now is Representative Ayanna Pressley, Democrat from Massachusetts. She's been a leading advocate for extending TPS for Haitians and is the co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus. Welcome to the program.
AYANNA PRESSLEY: Good to be with you.
GONYEA: What have you been hearing from your constituents who are affected by this since the ruling came down?
PRESSLEY: Fear, devastation. I think fear is just - it's palpable. You can hear it in every exchange, verbal and nonverbal. You just feel it. We had been on a high. There was just joy and jubilation in the midst of the World Cup and Haiti being in the World Cup. And on the heels of that, you know, 24 hours later, this devastating ruling from the Supreme Court, which ostensively denies the contributions of our Haitian neighbors and denies their very humanity.
GONYEA: Critics of temporary protected status have pointed to that word temporary, saying there needs to be an enforced limit on how long people can stay in the U.S. under that legal designation. They say TPS status can't just be renewed in perpetuity as it so often has been. How do you respond to that?
PRESSLEY: Three-hundred-sixty-thousand Haitian nationals call this country home. There's nothing temporary about their lives - should not be. Their families are not temporary, and neither should their futures be treated with that kind of callousness and fragility. Again, don't you think if people could stay in a beautiful country that is Haiti, that they have such pride, that they would have?
The region is not safe. It's been destabilized. This was one of the most compelling and effective arguments that I made to Republicans across the aisle, the 10 that voted in support of my discharge petition to extend temporary protective status for our Haitian neighbors, that we had just passed a bipartisan Haiti HOPE/HELP Act, a trade bill. And I said, well, if you recognize that the country needs to be stabilized, how are we going to deport 360,000 people there? So it is a morality argument, but it's so much more than that. When our immigrant neighbors are vulnerable, there are often a lot of predatory actors and behaviors, and people end up being victimized by those.
So I just want our Haitian neighbors to know your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Don't sign anything without speaking to an attorney. Local and state government employees should not comply with ICE. And until you receive notification regarding your work authorization being rescinded, you are still authorized to work. And then, although this is very hard to say, it is important to make a plan with your loved ones. We have parents that are asking about how to pursue guardianship in the event that they are disappeared, deported. What of their children that have been born in this country? So it's really important to make a plan for your family for guardianship and keep your important documents together.
GONYEA: You mentioned that people should have a plan. Is there a possibility for them to pursue a different legal status other than TPS?
PRESSLEY: I encourage people to call my office because every case is different, and I want to be mindful given the callousness of this administration and, quite frankly, Donald Trump's obsession with the people of Haiti. He is not only anti-immigrant. He is specifically anti-Black, and he has been so strident in his condemnation and his discrimination and trafficking of racist tropes - accusing Haitian people of eating cats and dogs, referring to Haiti as a [expletive] country. I'm still shell-shocked but still resolved.
GONYEA: In April, you led an effort in the U.S. House through a discharge petition to extend temporary protected status for Haitians until April of 2029. What can you tell us about where that is now and what action you're taking in the wake of this ruling to try to push that through a Republican-controlled Senate?
PRESSLEY: I see this SCOTUS ruling as a devastating comma but not a finite period. And so we have many paths to push back on, and we must do that in every branch of government and see it through to the end. So the Senate can and must take action without delay. And it must be taken up immediately. The lower court can rule against Trump's attempt to terminate TPS, so we're still awaiting that ruling.
GONYEA: You have been such a staunch advocate for TPS holders, especially Haitians. What's driven your passion and your advocacy for this particular issue?
PRESSLEY: If you're not a TPS holder yourself or have a loved one who is a TPS holder, know that you have been the beneficiary of the contributions of a TPS holder. That certainly is true in my own life. When my mother Sandy was in the final throes of her cancer battle, which ultimately, she did succumb to, it was Haitian nurses who cared for her, like so many do as home healthcare aides in our nursing homes and our hospitals. And it was Haitian nurses who prayed over my mother, who lovingly braided her hair, who oiled her scalp, who comforted her, who centered her dignity. And that's just one example of many.
Our TPS holders - they make incredible contributions to our healthcare industries, to construction, to hospitality, to faith houses, to civic life. And their loss will be immensely felt. And again, their value is much greater than their labor, but I do think it's important to lift that up as well. So this isn't just a fight for Haitian TPS holders or Syrian TPS holders. This is not only a fight for all TPS holders. It's a fight for everyone because we all benefit from their contributions.
GONYEA: We've been speaking with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. Thank you for your time.
PRESSLEY: Thank you.
GONYEA: We should note that in his opinion in this week's case, Justice Alito said the White House approach to immigration was not, quote, "overtly racial" and was therefore constitutional. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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