On June 30 the Supreme Court upheld the Constitutional right to birthright citizenship, striking down a Trump administration Executive Order.
ILAP’s Executive Director, Sue Roche, issued the following statement:
“ILAP applauds and is deeply grateful to the immigrant plaintiffs who came forward to defend the U.S. Constitution and challenge the Trump administration’s attempt to end birthright citizenship…
Read MoreThe Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Maine said in a statement on Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s decision on birthright citizenship “got it right,” but that its ruling last week, affirming Trump’s power to remove temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of people from Syria and Haiti, creates “grave risks of family separation.”
Read More"The administration’s attack on this fundamental right has caused tremendous harm and anxiety in our communities, as parents have lived with fear and uncertainty about their children’s citizenship, security, and future," said ILAP executive director Sue Roche. "While today’s decision affirms the rights of those vulnerable children, we know they still face grave risks of family separation with the Supreme Court’s Temporary Protected Status ruling and the administration’s ongoing mass deportation agenda."
Read MoreThe statewide Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) has helped hundreds of Haitian people get TPS in recent years, according to policy director Lisa Parisio.
“Over the past couple of years we’ve seen people from Haiti moving to Maine and making Maine home,” she said.
Parisio said ICE detention centers are on track to have their deadliest year yet, and that local ordinances are important to public safety and public trust, as many immigrants report being afraid to report crimes and abuse, assist as witnesses, seek protective orders, and send their children to school.
Read MoreSue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said that the approximately 1.3 million people in the U.S. enrolled in the temporary protected status program include “at least hundreds of people in Maine. Many people have lived with TPS protection for years and decades, raising families, working essential jobs in our workforce, and becoming indispensable parts of our communities.”
Read MorePolicy director at the Immigrant Legal, Lisa Parisio, said a TPS is used by at least 700 people in Maine, including several hundred with Haitian and Syrian designations. "This decision paves the way to impact all of these folks here in Maine and all of their families and their workplaces," Parisio said.
Read MoreLisa Parisio, with the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said revoking Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is part of the administration's broader attack on legal immigration pathways.
"Going after people who have existing statuses like TPS holders and seeking to strip them of their protections so that they can increase the numbers of people that they are able to deport," Parisio said.
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