Today was a good day at the U.S. Supreme Court for Donald Trump and Stephen Miller: the Court gave them permission to deport hundreds of thousands of Haitians, Syrians, and others who hold Temporary Protected Status. Some 350,000 Haitians are affected. Under the same program, Trump has welcomed white South Africans. The Court’s vote was 6-3.
Among those now subject to deportation are engineers, doctors and thousands of health care workers.
The program was established in 1990 with bipartisan support.
In a different 6-3 decision, the Court’s rightwing majority struck down a law in Hawaii that allowed private businesses open to the public, like retail shops, grocery stores, coffee shops, and gas stations to bar patrons carrying guns. The majority said the Second Amendment protects gun owners and they should be allowed to enter these places carrying their guns. The rest of us are not protected from them.
Contact:
Alexis Lopez
305-878-9836
alopez@aft.org
AFT’s Weingarten on US Supreme Court Ruling Ending Protection for Hundreds of Thousands of Haitians and Syrians
WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to end temporary protected status protections for thousands of workers from Haiti and Syria who live and work legally in the United States:
“This country has been a beacon of hope for people around the world who seek a safe haven from violence and persecution. Immigrants with temporary protected status pour billions into the economy each year, pay taxes and fill essential jobs across industries including healthcare, agriculture and manufacturing. Losing their right to work and live here will push them into poverty and leave our country weaker, poorer and more vulnerable.
“When darker forces—like those in the White House today—closed our borders in the 1920s, millions of people who needed shelter were slaughtered abroad. We said “never again,” yet now we have a Supreme Court that’s closed its eyes to that history.
“It is ironic that the six justices who issued this ruling would likely never visit or live in Haiti or Syria because of the extreme and ongoing instability there. Yet they somehow feel constitutionally compelled to send others back based on an administration policy rooted in discrimination and hate. History will not be kind to those who joined this warped opinion—and it is now incumbent on Congress to reverse it.”
###
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I read this verdict with bitter disappointment. The Haitian refugees I have met have been some of the most gentle people I ever encountered. That they would be forced to return to a land ruled by criminals is beyond the pale.
Weingarten is correct. Time for Congress to assert its power. I cannot believe they will, however.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In many communities, Haitians are the backbone of the healthcare system: doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, orderlies. Hospitals will be hit hard.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For both groups the conditions in their countries remain dangerous, which is why they were given protective status in the first place. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has no empathy, and neither does the current leadership.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If yesterday is any indication, the Supreme Court just does the bidding of MAGA. It has ceased to function as a check on these brigands.
LikeLike
It happens that I live in a Brooklyn neighborhood called “Little Haiti” (it’s the Newkirk Avenue stop on the 2 and 5 trains). I fear for my neighbors’ security.
LikeLike
The Supreme Court is NOT Supreme
As we prepare to honor the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, we should HEED THE WARNING that Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who almost single-handedly wrote our Declaration, gave us about the U.S. Supreme Court.
First, Jefferson pointed out that regarding “The question whether the [Supreme Court] judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law…THERE IS NOT A WORD IN THE CONSTITUTION which has given that power to them more than to the Executive or Legislative branches.” (Jefferson to William H. Torrance)
Nowhere in our Constitution is the Supreme Court given any authority to decide on the constitutionality of any law. The Supreme Court GAVE ITSELF that authority when it issued its Marbury ruling in 1803. IT MUST BE NICE to give yourself constitutional power that the Constitution doesn’t give you.
Founding Father Jefferson also pointed out the severe danger to our republic of allowing the Supreme Court the nonconstitutional power to by itself decide the constitutionality of laws; Jefferson warned: “Our judges are as honest as other men — but not more so. They have with others the same passions for political party, for power, and the privilege of their corps…and their power is all the more dangerous as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots” and “The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.” (Jefferson to William C. Jarvis)
“The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.” (Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams)
“The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.” (Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1804)
So, who does Thomas Jefferson say should decide on whether or not a law is constitutional or what the Constitution means or says? Because the Constitution belongs to We the People, Jefferson said that “THE ULTIMATE ARBITER IS THE PEOPLE OF THE UNION, assembled by their deputies in convention, at the call of Congress or of two-thirds of the States. Let them decide.” (Jefferson to William Johnson)
THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IS NOT SUPREME. WE THE PEOPLE ARE.
LikeLike