DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin says ‘We’re going after them right now’ despite threat of violence in home country Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are faced with the prospect of i…

DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin says ‘We’re going after them right now’ despite threat of violence in home country Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are faced with the prospect of imminent risk of arrest and deportation – to a home country racked with crime, violence and political unrest – after the Trump administration officially stripped them of humanitarian protections that had allowed them to live and work legally in the United States for years. US district judge Ana Reyes confirmed on Wednesday that her order blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending temporary protected status (TPS) for Haiti was no longer in effect. This followed the controversial supreme court ruling in June that upended judicial review of the program and opened the door for immigration enforcement to track down and detain Haitians en masse. “We’re going after them right now,” the DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, said earlier this week. “These individuals can either self-deport or we’ll arrest you and send you back. It’s that simple.” Enacted by Congress in 1990, TPS protects people who are already in the US when a natural disaster, epidemic, armed conflict or other extraordinary and temporary circumstance affects their country of origin, making it unsafe for them to return home. TPS holders are eligible for work permits and have added an estimated $262bn to the US economy since 2001, according to the FWD.us advocacy organization, often pursuing careers in essential industries such as construction and health and elder care. But since returning to office last year, the Trump administration has almost categorically terminated existing TPS designations for some of the most dangerous countries in the world – a policy change that eventually led the highest court to authorize ending the program for Haiti and Syria, despite both countries being on the state department’s “do not travel” advisory list. “In a stunning contradiction, the administration advises Americans against all travel to Haiti – and instructs those who go anyway to draft a will and submit DNA samples so their remains can be identified,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the immigrant-serving non-profit Global Refuge.