The fear of deportation is growing for hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country after a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which allows the Trump administration to revoke their Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
This decision means the White House can now strip legal protections for 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to deportation. The administration has also moved to withdraw that protection for 500,000 Haitians — TPS is set to expire this August for Haitians. And people from other countries like Nicaragua and Honduras also face the prospect of deportation with the end of TPS. In Florida, it’s estimated that more than 300,000 people have TPS protection, more than any other state.
Businesses are feeling the impact of this action — they’re trying to figure out what to do with employees who had been allowed to work under this immigration status. For examples, about four dozen Venezuelan workers who had TPS have been put on leave by Disney.
Meantime, the Trump administration continues efforts to make good on its pledge to deport 3,000 people per day. Florida leads the country in the number of local law enforcement agencies partnering with ICE to deport undocumented people.
And recently, the Trump administration has enacted sweeping travel bans and restrictions on citizens from some countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
To help us understand these new immigration policies and the impact here in our state, we talk with Fort Myers Immigration Attorney Ricardo Skerrett.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.