Hawai‘i AG Joins Coalition to Protect Haitian-Born Residents at Risk of Deportation

Hawaiʻi Attorney General Clare E. Connors joined a group of 21 State Attorneys General in challenging the Trump administration’s effort to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals.

According to the AGs, if the administration is allowed to move forward, Haitian TPS holders in the District and other states would lose their legal status, leaving them vulnerable to deportation.

Clare Connors

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in Saget v. Trump before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the attorneys general argue that the administration lacked a reasonable rationale for the move, saying it violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

The brief urges the Court of Appeals to affirm the lower court’s ruling and uphold a nationwide injunction against the termination “to prevent widespread harm in the Amici states.”

“The decision to terminate temporary protected status was made arbitrarily,” said Attorney General Connors. “It has a profoundly negative impact on individuals families, communities and our states, which is why it must be challenged.”

The Saget v. Trump lawsuit was initiated by the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, along with several law firms, on behalf of a dozen plaintiffs, including individual Haitian TPS holders and Family Action Network Movement, Inc.

Haiti first received TPS designation after the devastating earthquake of 2010.

According to the AG, 9 percent of Haitian TPS holders are married to US citizens, and 27,000 American children have been born to these families.