February 8th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh today joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general filing an amicus brief in Ramos v. Nielsen before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  The brief supports the plaintiffs’ efforts to prevent the potential deportation of hundreds of thousands of people who hold Temporary Protected Status (TPS).  This brief asks the Ninth Circuit to uphold the preliminary nationwide injunction that plaintiffs obtained in the district court, blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from terminating TPS designations for Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

 

“Deporting TPS holders in Maryland, and beyond, does not serve the public interest,” said Attorney General Frosh “These deportations would cause irreversible and harm to families, our workforce, and the individuals who would be returned to countries in the midst of crises and widespread violence, where their lives could be seriously jeopardized.”

 

TPS protects individuals who are in the United States and whose home countries face armed conflict, natural disasters, or other crises that make the return of TPS holders to their home countries unsafe.  Many TPS holders have lived here for a decade or more and have started families and businesses, bought homes, and significantly contributed to their communities.

 

Under the Trump administration, DHS changed its long-standing practice of looking at the entirety of the conditions in a country when determining whether it is safe for TPS holders to return.  Without any substantial explanation, DHS argued that it can only look at the original condition in the home country that prompted its TPS designation when deciding whether to extend that designation.  This new policy ignores other intervening conditions that pose serious threats to the safety of TPS holders.  The plaintiffs in this case alleged that DHS enacted its new rule without following legal requirements; the district court agreed and stopped DHS from implementing the new policy pending the final outcome of the case.