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Edwin Murillo and his wife, Mily, from El Salvador, are moving to protest the phasing out of temporary protection of immigrants.
Daniel González, the Republic | azcentral.com

Immigration advocates gather on January 8, 2018 near the White House in Washington, DC, to support the temporary protection status of foreigners living in the United States.(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily suspend its plan to end a special federal immigration program allowing hundreds of thousands of immigrants to legally live and work in the United States. United States for decades.

US District Judge Edward Chen felt that the administration may have bypassed federal regulatory guidelines, imposed undue political pressure on staff, and violated the Equal Protection Clause. basing its decision "on anonymity against non-white and non-European immigrants."

This decision is the latest blow to President Donald Trump's efforts to reform the country's immigration laws, as a result of court orders limiting his travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, his attempt to end deferred action program for child arrivals and its family separation policy the southwestern border.

The preliminary injunction ordered by Chen prevents the expulsion of about 240,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan, who had to abide by a series of lawsuits. deadlines starting in November to leave the country or at risk of becoming undocumented immigrants. These immigrants were allowed to travel to the United States under the temporary protection program, better known as the GST. The humanitarian program was created in 1990 to help immigrants from countries at war or victims of major natural disasters.

The Department of Homeland Security, which administers TPS, argued that the program had been wrongly extended for years and that conditions in these four countries now allowed thousands of their residents to return home.

More: The Trump administration puts an end to special immigration protections for 57,000 Hondurans

Related: Trump administration prevented US embassy officials from ending immigration program

But the federal judge in northern California has disapproved of the administration and has arranged – at least for now – with the plaintiffs. He set the audience on October 26th.

In making his decision, Chen, nominated by President Barack Obama, said that there was no immediate danger to the federal government if its decision to terminate TPS was temporarily suspended. But he wrote that if they were forced to leave the country, GST holders and their communities would suffer lasting and lasting harm.

Chen quoted a submission filed by 17 states that estimated they would lose $ 132 billion in gross domestic product, $ 5.2 billion in social security and Medicare contributions, and $ 733 million in labor-related costs. employers if the SPT beneficiaries were sent home.

As for the GST holders themselves, Chen focused on the thousands of children born in the United States that they have had since their stay in the United States.

GST holders are "faced with Hobson's choice to take their children with them (and separate them from the only country and community they knew) or to separate their families," the judge wrote.

Edwin Murillo, 42, and his wife, Mily Rivas, 40, from El Salvador who have two children born in the United States, faced this very difficult decision. They were undecided about what they were doing but were rather opposed to returning to El Salvador, a country that they believe remains plagued by poverty and violence.

"I prefer to hide from the migra (immigration authorities) than fleeing crime in my country, "Murillo said when she was contacted by telephone at the family's home in Dallas, Texas. He and his wife are both GST and have been living in the United States for 20 years.

Murillo and his wife took part in a caravan that crossed the United States for 12 weeks to raise funds for GST holders. They claim that their goal is not to extend TPS more, but to convince Congress to pass legislation that would allow GST holders to legalize their status permanently.

More: Caravan of migrants protests Trump's gradual elimination of temporary protection status

Also: Decision on temporary protection status for 60,000 Hondurans to come

When he focused much of his 43-page decision on how the Trump administration made its decision. He wrote that the former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Elaine Duke, did not seem to have made her decision to terminate TPS on the basis of the facts she had, but that she was largely fulfilling a predetermined presidential program to end the GST.

Chen said the agenda may have been tainted with racial prejudice. The judge listed Trump's many comments and actions during his presidential campaign and after his arrival at the White House, indicating that the termination of the GST had a racial component behind it.

The judge listed:

– Trump's comments during his June 2015 speech announcing his candidacy when he described Mexicans as drug traffickers, criminals and rapists.

– His call of December 2015 to a "total and complete stop of Muslims entering the United States".

– According to an article in the Washington Post in January 2018, President Trump described El Salvador, Haiti and African nations as "unscrupulous countries."

– A speech made in February 2018 at the conservative political action conference, in which Trump "used the MS-13 … to denigrate immigrants, stating that they were criminals and comparing them to snakes" .

"The problems are at least serious enough to preserve the status quo," he wrote.

The Justice Ministry said Chen's decision "usurped the role of the executive" and pledged to challenge his decision in court.

"The Court contends that the duly elected President of the United States can not be involved in matters that determine the security of the citizens of our country or in the enforcement of our immigration laws," he said. Justice spokesman Devin O Malley said on Wednesday night. "The Department of Justice completely rejects the idea that the White House or the Department of Homeland Security has acted inappropriately."

The lawsuit against DHS was filed last March by the US Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and other immigrant rights advocates.

"Despite the efforts of the administration to change the current status of the GST, this preliminary injunction preserves its long-standing intent and prevents the expulsion of more than three hundred thousand people to countries unable to accommodate them. , which is just as important, prevents the separation of hundreds of thousands of people. American citizens of their parents, "said the plaintiffs in a statement to USA Today.

"Justice Chen's decision reaffirms the importance of our justice system and the checks and balances in place to hold our government accountable," they said.

The decision does not affect the termination of TPS for two other countries: Nepal and Honduras. But lawyers are certain to put pressure on other courts to follow suit and temporarily suspend these decisions.

Contributor: Daniel Gonzalez of the Republic of Arizona

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