Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, detailed how the Immigration Act of 1990, signed into law by then-President George H. W. Bush, is the gateway legislation that led to the influx of migrants overtaking U.S. communities under Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
The Immigration Act of 1990 created TPS, which creates a temporary immigration status for nationals of countries facing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.
TPS provides work permits and protection from deportation to foreign nationals from those countries designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary for 6, 12, or 18 months at a time and can be suspended or extended at the discretion of the DHS secretary.
There are currently 16 countries designated for TPS: Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Leahy discussed how the TPS program is being “abused” on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“The Temporary Protected Status…was designed for people who were from countries where there were all sorts of military difficulties or natural disasters to be here temporarily – six months, 12 months, 18 months – and then to go back to their countries or go back to somewhere else. That’s what it’s designed for. You’re not allowed to come in under Temporary Protected Status and become a permanent citizen of the United States. It’s allegedly prohibited, except it’s been abused,” Leahy explained.
Leahy noted how then-President Donald Trump attempted to end the TPS program but was blocked from doing so by the court system.
“Trump came in and he said, ‘You know what, we’ve got to stop this program. It’s a disaster.’ So they put in effect a notice, and the Secretary of Homeland Security at that time, Christian Nielsen, signed the letter saying we’re stopping it for Haiti, we’re stopping it for El Salvador, we’re stopping it for all of these various countries. But guess what happened? The left brought a lawsuit,” Leahy explained.
After losses in two separate lawsuits, Saget v. Trump and Ramos v. Nielson, the Trump administration was barred from ending TPS, which led to approximately 400,000 migrants in the U.S. under TPS.
Now, as Leahy pointed out, current DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ extending of TPS for certain countries has led to there being 1.1 million migrants in the U.S. under TPS – 160,000 of the migrants being Haitians.
“There were 56,000 Haitians in 2020. Guess how many there are today? There’s a total of 1.1 million migrants here under this temporary program, and 160,000 are Haitians. Where have they ended up? Looks like 20,000 of them have ended up in Springfield, Ohio, where, ‘They’re eating the cats, they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the geese’,” Leahy said.
“Now there are mixed reports on that…But one thing we know for sure all of their requests for social services are way up. And in addition, they can’t drive. They’re causing all sorts of driver’s accidents. Who cares about the people of Springfield, Ohio, who were there before this influx of Haitian migrants? Not the Left,” Leahy added.
Watch the full segment:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Illegal Immigrants” by Chief Patrol Agent Robert Danley.
