Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., criticized President Donald Trump after the Supreme Court issued two rulings that favored the administration’s immigration policies, including a decision allowing the administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian migrants, as reported [1] by Fox News.
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration may end TPS protections that have allowed many Haitians to remain and work in the United States since Haiti’s 2010 earthquake and many Syrians since the country’s civil war prompted a TPS designation in 2012.
The decisions represented two significant immigration victories for the administration, affecting both TPS and asylum-related policies.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Ocasio-Cortez argued that the TPS ruling affects individuals whom she believes many Trump supporters did not expect would be targeted under the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
“I think it’s really sad because these decisions are targeting exactly the kind of people that Republican voters said that they did not want targeted in the Trump administration’s immigration policy,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The New York congresswoman contended that the ruling departs from what she described as President Trump’s earlier campaign commitments.
She said the decision represented “a reversal of President Trump’s promise to only go after, quote unquote, criminals and rapists.”
Ocasio-Cortez also identified the types of workers she believes will be affected by the Supreme Court’s decision.
“This decision to overturn TPS targets nurses, it targets health care workers, it targets domestic workers, cleaners, people who work in restaurants,” she said, calling it “a real betrayal of President Trump’s promise.”
She further argued that ending TPS protections would have broader economic consequences, saying it would increase prices, make it more difficult to find workers, and disrupt established communities.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., also criticized the administration following the court’s asylum ruling. Aguilar said the president has repeatedly challenged a legal process that has existed under U.S. law for decades.
“People are fleeing terrible conditions, and they have a lawful right to declare asylum,” Aguilar said.
The White House defended the Supreme Court’s decisions and the administration’s immigration policies.
“Temporary Protected Status was always meant to be temporary,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said Thursday.
“It was never meant to be a pathway to permanent status or citizenship…our asylum system, for years, has been abused and exploited by bad actors…this ruling is a step in the right direction towards clearing up our asylum system and making sure that people can’t enter our country who shouldn’t be here — and that people who are here, who shouldn’t be here, should be deported.”
When asked what congressional Democrats planned to do next regarding TPS, Aguilar pointed to legislation that Democrats advanced through the House using a discharge petition.
“Democrats led legislation in order to bring certainty to that. It’s sitting over in the Senate,” Aguilar said. “We forced a discharge petition, and were successful because we believe in governing.”
Aguilar appeared to be referring to House-passed legislation intended to extend TPS protections for Haitians.
Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said he had not yet reviewed the court’s full opinions but expressed concern about the outcome.
“I had not yet read the full decisions but was beyond the point of being surprised by almost any decision that comes out of court,” Figures said.
Figures defended maintaining TPS protections for Haiti, citing the country’s ongoing challenges.
“There’s not a country that I think TPS is designed at its core that’s more deserving of that than the situations we currently see in Haiti,” Figures said.
The Supreme Court’s rulings mark another major development in the administration’s immigration agenda and are expected to influence ongoing debates over asylum policy, Temporary Protected Status, and congressional efforts to address immigration through legislation.