Contact: Sam Singleton-Freeman, 414-469-9206, sfreeman@vdlf.org

MILWAUKEE — The Trump Administration has announced they will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for almost 60,000 Haitian refugee families who came to the United States following the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. TPS was created in a bipartisan 1990 bill signed into law by the first President Bush to provide humanitarian relief to immigrants from countries struggling in the aftermath of war, natural disaster, or humanitarian crisis.

This cruel blow comes after the Administration ended TPS protection for 5300 Nicaraguan families and delayed a decision extending TPS for 86,000 Honduran families for six months, leaving them in continuing limbo. Most TPS recipients have lived in the United States for over 20 years. Taken with the elimination of DACA and Trump’s executive orders to increase deportations, these attacks mark the largest rollback of legal protections for immigrants and refugees in generations. Voces de la Frontera issued the following response:

“Immigrant communities in Wisconsin are resisting the attacks we now see from Republicans at every level of government, including this cruel decision to end TPS and separate thousands of Haitian families,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera. “Given the US’ long history of undermining democracy and economic development in Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua, we have a responsibility to continue these protections for TPS recipients. We call on Paul Ryan, as Speaker of the House, to bring legislation to the floor to protect TPS recipients, along with a clean Dream Act to protect the millions of families at risk of separation from their families.”

“At the state level, we recently defeated 287g in Milwaukee County, and are organizing to demand that Waukesha County Sheriff Eric Severson drop his 287g application to join Trump’s war on immigrants by turning his deputies into ICE agents. Governor Walker must block the show-me-your-papers hate bill AB190/SB275, which would have a similar effect to 287g statewide. As we witness this assault on the rights of immigrants and refugees, our resistance is only escalating. Voces de la Frontera is engaging immigrant community members and allies statewide to prepare for a sustained ‘Days without Immigrants’ general strike to defeat the hate bill AB190 and 287g.”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email