People Are Misunderstanding Mullin on Permanent Status for Haitians, Border Hawks Say

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin took heat from figures on the Right for saying that Haitians facing deportation can apply to remain in the United States, but he may have been misinterpreted, some immigration experts said.

“Either try to fill out the paperwork ​and be here underneath a permanent status, or we’ll help you get back to your country,” Mullin told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “We’ll actually give you a plane ticket, plus roughly $2,100 to help you re-establish when you get there, but Temporary Protected ​Status, according to the courts and in its name itself, is not permanent status,” he added.

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with the Trump administration in its removal of Temporary Protected Status for Syrian and Haitian immigrants, clearing the way for deportation proceedings. Around 350,000 Haitians are in the United States under the designation. 

Some conservatives interpreted Mullin’s comments inviting Haitians to apply for permanent status as a backtrack from the administration’s deportation policies. Former White House advisor Steve Bannon in a social media post called Mullin’s remarks “Disgraceful,” while Gregory Bovino, former commander at large for U.S. Border Patrol, said on X, “I guess Republicans want to lose the midterms… Promising mass deportations won big.” Fox News host Laura Ingraham said, “This is not what we voted for.”

On Sunday night, Mullin responded to the backlash, “If you are in the country without status, you are here illegally. Illegal aliens have two choices — they can either accept a $2,600 stipend and a flight home to self deport, or they will be removed.”

Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian said he thinks people are misunderstanding Mullin. 

“If they [Haitians] qualify, they can stay by filling out paperwork,” he told the Daily Signal, “but there’s going to be some process for them to be able to stay when TPS ends, just because they have TPS.”

The Haitians would be required to leave the country while they apply for a change in legal status. In May, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a policy memo reiterating that aliens in the U.S. temporarily who are seeking green cards must apply in their home country or at a consulate in a third-party country, except in extraordinary circumstances. 

TPS recipients are required to apply for permanent status within one year of arriving in the U.S., so Krikorian thinks anyone eligible would have already applied.  

“I don’t think anybody who has a plausible application hasn’t already filed one,” he said. 

Still, Krikorian thinks some of the Haitians will take their chances by remaining illegally in the U.S. He said it is unclear if Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be knocking on doors to initiate deportations in Haitian communities such as in Springfield, Ohio. 

Most of the Haitians with TPS designations had first resettled in Chile, Brazil, or Costa Rica before ditching their documents and claiming asylum in the U.S. under the Biden administration, according to Lora Ries, immigration expert at the Heritage Foundation. 

“They obtained TPS fraudulently, so that makes them ineligible for TPS,” she told the Daily Signal. “It should also make them ineligible for other immigration benefits.” 

Ries said the Supreme Court’s ruling last week is more about judicial review than it is about Temporary Protected Status. 

“The statute was very clear that there’s no judicial review for Homeland Security secretaries’ designations for TPS or terminations of TPS, but these NGOs and leftist organizations take every TPS termination to court to tie it up and delay in the hopes that a new administration will come in and continue it, which is exactly what happened when you go from Trump 1 to Biden,” she said. 

Ries said the question remains whether left-wing judges will adhere to the ruling. 

“Will the Left follow court precedent, or are they just going to keep ignoring it while they dare Trump to not follow a judicial order?” she asked.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.