Viewpoint: Stop the de-documentation of legal immigrants

Jesse Jaeger

We are currently experiencing the largest de-documentation of legal immigrants in U.S. history. In the 1990s, Congress created the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for immigrants from countries experiencing war and other disasters. While initially temporary, the reality is that these countries remain unsafe.

There is nothing temporary about the lives they have built. Most TPS holders have lived here for over 20 years. They have worked, started businesses, raised families, and contributed billions in taxes. Many have U.S. citizen children. People with TPS are our neighbors, co-workers, and friends.

At the beginning of 2025, over 1.3 million immigrants had lived here with legal status through TPS. Right now, only about 600,000 people still have protections, and by the end of October of this year, everyone who once lived here under TPS legally will likely lose those protections.

On Wednesday, April 29th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold hearings about TPS for immigrants from Haiti and Syria. The results of this case will likely impact immigrants with TPS from all 17 countries that have been covered by the program.

If the court allows the current administration to continue to ignore the process created by Congress in the TPS legislation, it will escalate the largest de-documentation of legal immigrants in our country's history.

Turning TPS holders into "illegal immigrants" and forcing them to leave will upend their lives and force U.S. citizen children into an impossible dilemma: lose their parents to deportation or leave the only country they have ever known. These immigrants have followed the rules and obeyed the laws.

We must stand in solidarity with our TPS neighbors to defend TPS and call for a path to permanent residency for TPS holders.