U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Marquin Mullen on Sunday called on immigrants residing in the United States under temporary protected status to leave the country and return home or apply for permanent residency if they are eligible.
Mullen's remarks came during a CNN interview , following a Supreme Court decision last week that allowed President Donald Trump's administration to end the humanitarian protection status of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti and Syria, which had prevented them from being deported to countries suffering from conflict and extreme poverty.
"Either you try to fill out the forms and stay in the U.S. under permanent resident status or we'll help you go back home," Mullen said.
He said the government would provide those wishing to return "a ticket along with about $2,100 to help them settle down after arrival", stressing that "temporary protection status according to the courts and as his name itself indicates, is not permanent".
US State Department warnings against travel to Syria List
Despite the administration's move to end the temporary protection program for Syrians and Haitians, the U.S. State Department continues to warn against travel to both Haiti and Syria, due to widespread violence, crime, terrorism and kidnappings.
The United States granted temporary protection status to migrants from Haiti for the first time after the devastating earthquake that hit the country in 2010, while it was granted to Syrians after the conflict erupted in 2012.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump falsely accused Haitian immigrants living in Ohio of eating other-owned pets, but the conservative majority on the Supreme Court found that Haitians who sued the U.S. administration were unlikely to succeed in proving that the administration's actions were racially motivated.
Lifting "temporary protection" for 6,000 Syrians
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday granted President Donald Trump a majority ruling to cancel the Temporary Protected Services (TPS) program for hundreds of thousands of migrants, including 6,000 Syrians and 350,000 Haitians, in a ruling described as one of Trump's most prominent judicial victories on the immigration file.
The ruling was issued by a majority of 6 conservative justices to 3 liberals and drafted by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who considered that the previous administration's decisions to cancel the program were based on "neutral political justifications" consistent with the temporary nature of the program, and the court rejected appeals filed by rights groups that accused the administration of racial bias, stressing that the law does not give courts the power to interfere in executive branch decisions related to ending or extending protections.
U.S. immigration law experts said the ruling would make TPS beneficiaries lose work permits and protection from detention and deportation, paving the way for the administration to begin large-scale deportations involving tens of thousands of families.
What is a Temporary Protection Program (TPS)
Known in U.S. federal law as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), this legislation is a humanitarian program passed by Congress under the Immigration Act of 1990 that grants temporary legal residency and work permits to people who have been unable to return to their home countries due to war, armed conflict, natural disasters, or exceptional life-threatening circumstances.
The program provides beneficiaries with protection from deportation, the right to apply for an official work permit and social security number, as well as the possibility of obtaining a prior travel authorization that allows them to leave and return to the United States under certain conditions.
To take advantage of this status, the person must be from a protected country, have been in the United States since the date specified in the protection decision, and have a clean security record that is free of serious crimes or any threat to national security.
Despite its advantages, the programme remains temporary and does not constitute a direct route to permanent residency or citizenship, as protection is granted for periods ranging from 6 to 18 months, renewable according to the assessment of the situation in the country of origin.
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