Attorney General Charity Clark has joined 15 other state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, aiming to defend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants. The coalition is urging the court to uphold a previous ruling by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which found that the Trump administration’s attempt to terminate TPS was unlawful.
The press release notes that both Haiti and Venezuela are experiencing ongoing humanitarian crises, with safety concerns highlighted by the U.S. State Department. Despite these conditions, TPS protections were targeted for termination shortly after being extended by the Biden administration. The attorneys general argue that removing TPS would create significant disruption for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for years.
According to Attorney General Clark and her colleagues, “Revoking TPS would cause immense economic, public health, and public safety disruptions in communities across the country.” They also emphasize that many families could be separated if legal status is revoked: “If the administration successfully revokes TPS, parents would be faced with an impossible choice to either return to their home country and leave their families behind, take their U.S. citizen children with them to a dangerous country they do not know, or stay in the U.S. without legal status and risk fear, uncertainty, and deportation at any moment.”
Data cited in their brief indicates that in 2022 approximately 54,000 U.S. citizen children and 80,000 adults lived with a Venezuelan TPS holder; about 87,000 U.S. citizen children and 116,000 adults lived with a Haitian TPS holder.
The coalition also points out economic contributions from these immigrant groups: Venezuelan TPS holders contribute over $11 billion annually to the national economy while Haitian TPS holders contribute $4.4 billion each year.
Joining Vermont Attorney General Clark on this brief are attorneys general from California, Colorado, Delaware, Washington D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington State.
A copy of the amicus brief can be found on Vermont’s official website.
