‘No brainer’: DeSantis lauds SCOTUS for allowing deportations of Haitians, Syrians with TPS

Gov. Ron DeSantis praised on Thursday the Trump administration’s impending mass deportations of Haitian and Syrian migrants legally sheltered within the United States as a “no brainer,” insisting many had abused the nation’s immigration system.

“That [decision] was a no brainer in terms of immigration policy and immigration enforcement,” DeSantis said, speaking outside of the state-designated “Alligator Alcatraz” facility. “I think the 6-3 decision today was correct as a matter of law, I think it’s the right policy as well.”

He referred to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Thursday decision allowing the Trump administration to begin stripping temporary protected status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. Although litigation over TPS is pending, these migrants are not “entitled” to court orders shielding them from deportation, the 6-3 court ruled.

These migrants, residing in the United States because their home countries have been deemed too dangerous to return to, will have their work permits immediately expire and will lose their driver’s licenses — an eventuality ensured in Florida by the Sunshine State’s strict anti-undocumented immigration laws.

Nearly half of the more than 1 million Haitians living in the United States reside in Florida, making up roughly 2% of the Sunshine State’s population. Florida is home to about 17,000 Syrians.

Traditionally renewed every 18 months, TPS is a designation reserved for immigrants from particularly dangerous countries seeking to live and work in the United States. Trump has attempted to end TPS for 13 out of the 17 countries with that designation.

DeSantis, for his part, has said that the TPS system has evolved into a loophole for the immigration system.

“Something happens in a country, maybe natural disaster. People can come, get temporary protective status — things get stabilized, they go back. That’s the intent of it,” DeSantis said. “And yet it’s turned into, once you get TPS, that’s just indefinite. It’s kind of an end run around the normal immigration system.”

Florida Democrats have decried the ruling as unAmerican.

“The Court’s ruling today … will irreparably harm the United States’ legacy as a beacon of hope for those fleeing persecution and violence,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “It is morally wrong for the Trump Administration and the United States Supreme Court to throw TPS recipients’ status into chaos for political gain.

“This is a disaster for Florida, home to the largest Haitian population in the US and over 17,000 Syrians, and a grave injustice to those who have sacrificed everything to build new lives in the United States and have added immeasurably to our communities.”

The decision is likely to affect multiple lawsuits across the country in which federal judges have halted Trump’s efforts to strip TPS. In February, for example, a federal judge in the District of Columbia hit pause on the administration’s attempt to end TPS for Haitians while litigation continues.