- Office of the Attorney General
Media Contact
Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary
BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today co-led a multistate coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Haitian-Americans United, et al., v. Trump in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, supporting the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Trump Administration’s unprecedented early terminations of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Venezuela. The coalition is urging the court to grant the plaintiffs’ request to postpone the terminations while litigation challenging them proceeds, arguing that the terminations would irreparably harm the coalition states' families and economies.
TPS is a U.S. humanitarian program that allows nationals of designated countries to legally stay in the U.S. for a specified period of time due to ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions in their homelands.
Despite ongoing humanitarian crises in both Haiti and Venezuela, the Trump Administration has terminated TPS for Haitians and for Venezuelans who were provided that legal status in 2023. The respective terminations decrease the amount of time Haitian TPS holders are allowed to stay in the U.S. from eighteen months to just twelve months and will imminently subject Venezuelan TPS holders to deportation.
“The Trump Administration is pushing a narrative that his immigration agenda protects public safety, yet these cruel TPS terminations show that it is false. His goal is not just to go after those who perpetuate crimes, but to target and punish all of our immigrant residents - including those with legal status,” said AG Campbell. “We will continue to protect our Haitian and Venezuelan community members here legally working essential jobs in our healthcare industry and starting businesses that support our economy.”
The Trump Administration’s terminations of TPS for Haitians and Venezuelans strips these TPS holders of legal status and protections, subjecting them to detention and deportation and preventing them from working legally. The terminations are estimated to impact nearly 260,000 Haitian TPS holders and a large number of the current 600,000 Venezuelan TPS holders throughout the United States. These Haitian and Venezuelan TPS holders compromise the majority of the estimated 1.1 million individuals residing in the United States who are either recipients of or are eligible for TPS.
In Massachusetts, which has the third-largest Haitian population in the country, nearly 27,780 individuals are estimated to be TPS holders, including 15,000 Haitians by some estimates.
AG Campbell and the coalition caution that the early terminations would, deplete the states’ workforce and economies, compromise public health and safety, and painfully separate children and families.
Harm to States’ Workforce and Economies
The coalition highlights that the terminations would significantly deplete the states’ workforce and related tax revenue. A recent estimate found that in Massachusetts alone, TPS holders collectively earned $597.7 million in household income and paid nearly $134.2 million in local, state, and federal taxes, contributing $463.5 million to total spending power.
It is also estimated that TPS-eligible Haitians and Venezuelans contribute $15.9 billion annually to the national economy. A recent estimate found that nearly 218,000 TPS-eligible Haitians and Venezuelans worked in labor-short industries, such as accommodation and food services, business services, and healthcare services.
In Massachusetts, many Haitian TPS holders are employed in critical public roles serving vulnerable populations, including at least 80 within the state’s Department of Developmental Services, providing essential care and services to children, elders, and others with disabilities. The coalition states would face significant costs to rehire or recruit care workers to fill these positions, as care-giving positions can be challenging to fill in both the private and public sector.
Harm to Public Health and Public Safety
The coalition also recognizes that the removal of work authorizations caused by the terminations of TPS would also deprive many TPS holders of employer-sponsored private health insurance.
The coalition further explains that the terminations would compromise public safety, especially as, due to the fear of detention and deportation, undocumented individuals are less likely to report crime and engage with law enforcement, including when they themselves are victims.
Despite the Trump Administration’s unfounded claims that the arrival of recent Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants has led to a “crime wave,” research indicates that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than American-born individuals.
Harm to Families, Children, Schools, and Communities
Moreover, the coalition describes how the terminations of TPS would risk the traumatic separations of citizen children from their TPS-holding parents, tearing apart families and communities. In 2022, it was estimated that over 330,000 U.S. citizens, including children, live in “mixed status” households consisting of both U.S. citizens and TPS holders. The terminations would thus force some TPS holders to choose between (1) returning to their country of origin alone, leaving their children behind in broken families or in the foster care system; (2) taking their U.S. citizen children with them to a dangerous country that the children do not know; or (3) unlawfully staying in the U.S. under the constant fear of deportation, unable to legally work.
The coalition also cautions that the fear of deportation caused by the terminations would adversely impact the mental health of children and families, likely leading to decreased school attendance and other community-based activities.
The coalition’s amicus brief may be viewed in its entirety here.
Joining AG Campbell in co-leading the amicus brief are California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The amicus brief was also joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
###
Media Contact
