Earlier: Can Trump's "Temporary" Moratorium Be As Permanent As Temporary Protected Status?

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration Monday in ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 300,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Sudan. This was a surprise move for a court with a long-history of dictating liberal immigration policy [Appeals court OKs Trump plan to end protected immigration status for 4 countries, by Josh Gerstein, Politico, September 14, 2020].

The administration had previously revoked TPS for these migrants and planned to deport them, but a federal judge blocked the move in 2018. The ninth circuit court revoked the protected status for the three countries listed above and Haiti, but it did not lift a separate federal court injunction on the removal of Haitians. The court’s ruling reaffirmed Homeland Security’s power to determine which nationalities can receive TPS and shot down arguments that Trump’s alleged racism invalidates the revocation.

“Plaintiffs fail to present even ‘serious questions’ on the merits of their claim that the Secretaries’ TPS terminations were improperly influenced by the President’s ‘animus against non-white, non-European immigrants,'” Judge Consuelo Callahan wrote in the ruling. The argument against the admin’s order rested on Trump’s famous “shithole countries” comment, which allegedly showed racist intent in revoking TPS. However, the court did admonish Trump for his “offensive and disparaging remarks.”

The ruling is good for allowing the Trump admin to effectively enforce immigration law. There is a catch here: what about the children of these migrants? If they were born in the U.S., then they are citizens under birthright citizenship. This problem could lead to more litigation for the administration as the parents try to stay through their children.

This issue further underscores the importance of Trump eliminating birthright citizenship. It stands in the way of effective immigration policy and allows illegals and guest workers to gain a foothold here. Trump has called for its elimination in the past but he has forgotten about it this campaign. He needs to remember it if he wants to make America great again in the second term.