Trump stumped on immigrants

Washington – A US federal judge in California barred the Trump administration from implementing a plan to end temporary protections for more than 300 000 immigrants in the United States from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.

US District Judge Edward M Chen issued a preliminary injunction in a suit brought by a number of immigrants with temporary protected status (TPS).

The TPS designation offers protection from deportation to immigrants already in the US, including those who entered illegally, from countries affected by natural disasters, civil conflicts and other problems.

The government has failed to establish any real harm if “the status quo [which has been in existence for as long as two decades] is maintained during the pendency of this litigation,” Chen wrote in the order.

“Indeed, if anything, plaintiffs and amici have established without dispute that local and national economies will be hurt if hundreds of thousands of TPS beneficiaries are uprooted and removed,” he said.

The Trump administration has shown a deep scepticism toward the temporary protected status programme and has moved to revoke the special status afforded to thousands of immigrants from a number of countries. – Reuters