Immigrant rights advocates filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to stop United States (US) President Donald Trump’s administration from next week ending legal protections that allow nearly 1 100 Somalis to live and work in the US.
The lawsuit brought by four Somalis and two advocacy groups, challenges the US Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants, whom Trump has derided in public remarks.
The lawsuit cites a series of statements Trump has made describing Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people” who “contribute nothing.”
The plaintiffs said the administration is ending TPS for Somalia and other countries due to unconstitutional bias against non-white immigrants, not based on objective assessments of country conditions.
“The termination of TPS for Somalia is racism masking as immigration policy,” Omar Farah, Executive Director at the legal group Muslim Advocates, said in a statement.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment. It has previously said TPS was “never intended to be a de facto amnesty program.”
TPS is a form of humanitarian immigration protection that shields eligible migrants from deportation and allows them to work. Under Noem, DHS has moved to end TPS for a dozen countries, sparking legal challenges.
The administration on Saturday announced plans to pursue an appeal at the US Supreme Court in order to end TPS for over 350 000 Haitians. It also wants the high court to allow it to end TPS for about 6 000 Syrians.
–Reuters–
