California Attorney General Rob Bonta this week co-led a coalition of 15 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of a challenge to the Trump Administration’s efforts to deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians by prematurely terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS provides temporary legal status to immigrants living in the United States due to dangerous conditions in their home countries. In the brief, the attorneys general urge the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the district court’s order and prevent the Trump Administration’s decisions from going into effect, arguing that the early termination of Haitian and Venezuelan TPS is arbitrary and capricious and thus unlawful.
“The Trump Administration’s ongoing attack on immigrant communities must end now. Temporary Protected Status holders have fled violence and instability. They are here lawfully, and have strengthened California’s economy and communities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “They are not a burden nor a threat, but an asset to California and communities across the nation. We won’t stand by while the Trump Administration makes this cruel and destabilizing attempt to strip their legal immigration status.”