'US temporary status migrants should seek permanent residency or leave'

WASHINGTON: US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Sunday that migrants living in the United States under temporary protected status should either pursue permanent legal residency or return to their home countries, following a Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for the Trump administration to end protections for large numbers of Haitians and Syrians.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Mullin said people covered by temporary humanitarian protections should not expect the arrangement to continue indefinitely. He said the administration would encourage them to regularise their stay if eligible, or depart with assistance.

"Either try to fill out the paperwork and be here underneath a permanent status or we'll help you get back to your country," Mullin added that those leaving would be offered travel and resettlement support. "We'll actually ⁠give you a plane ticket, plus roughly $2,100 to help you re-establish when you get there, ​but temporary protective status, according to the courts and in its name itself, is not permanent status."

Under US federal law, temporary protected status allows people from countries affected by war, natural disasters or other severe conditions to remain legally in the United States for a limited period. The policy had been extended repeatedly in the past. Last week, however, the Supreme Court delivered a split decision that allows President Donald Trump’s administration to revoke that protection for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

The move comes even as the US State Department continues to advise against travel to both Haiti and Syria, citing violence, crime, terrorism and kidnapping. The United States first granted TPS to Haitians after the devastating 2010 earthquake, while Syrians received the designation after civil war broke out in their country in 2012.

The prospect of wide-ranging deportations has also drawn criticism from some Republicans. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who also spoke to CNN on Sunday, said sending Haitians back would be unsafe and would also damage Ohio’s economy by removing workers from key sectors, including healthcare.

During the 2024 election campaign, Trump falsely accused Haitians in Ohio of eating other people’s household pets. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority nevertheless concluded that the Haitians challenging the administration were unlikely to succeed in their claim that the policy change was racially motivated.

DeWine said Haitian residents have contributed to the economic recovery of some parts of Ohio that had previously suffered from post-industrial decline, helping raise wages and create jobs. He also pointed to their role in care work and nursing homes.

"It's Haitians who many times are ⁠taking care ​of your mom or your dad who has Alzheimer's, taking ​care of family members who might be in a nursing home. And to say we're going to pull all those ​out, it's just not in our own self-interest," he said.