President Trump moves away from the deportation protections of Syrian immigrants in the midst of a resurgence of militant groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
About 6,000 Syrians live and currently work in America under temporary protection status. Now, they will be forced to return to a country that the United Nations described as “fragile” and display “sectarian tensions” just a month ago.
The UN reported that Syria “still remained in a volatile and precarious phase” six months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. “The Member States warned of the growing risks posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and Al-Qaeda, which continue to consider the country as a strategic base for external operations … (HTS) was confronted with multiple security challenges, in particular by affirming control over the territory and various armed / combatants factions, as well as the control of foreign terrorist fighters, and the fight against the resurgence of EIL. »»
It does not look like a stable and amicable situation to suddenly force the Syrians to return. These people came here as refugees from the civil war under President Obama, and now they are forced to return to a situation which has also turned into a row violence.
The former head of citizenship and immigration policy, Amanda Baran, told the New York Times that the Trump Administration of Syrian TPs while the country dealt with an internal power struggle as “evisible for the thousands of Syrians here with TPs and the communities in which they live”.
“The conditions in Syria remain dangerous and unstable, clearly justifying an extension under the law,” she continued. “The contempt for this administration for the expertise of human rights experts has real and disastrous consequences on the lives of everyday people, as demonstrated by this reckless decision.”
But the Trump administration sees this very differently.
“This is what the restoration of the mental health of the American immigration system looks like,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant public affairs secretary at Homeland Security. “The conditions in Syria no longer prevent their nationals from going home. Syria has been a home for terrorism and extremism for almost two decades, and it is contrary to our national interest to allow Syrians to stay in our country. TPS is supposed to be temporary. “
Syrians will have 60 days to bring their lives together and leave the country, or face an arrest and forced expulsion.
The Trump administration also moved to contempt to revoke the TPS status of people from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua and Cameroon.
