On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump Administration’s efforts to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence abroad.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority upheld the Trump Administration’s attempts to end Temporary Protected Status, which allows people to live and work in the US due to dangerous conditions at home.
Christine Sauve is the Manager of Policy & Communication at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
She said the decision puts around 24,000 TPS holders in Michigan at risk.
“They have lives, they have family, they've married, they've had children here. And so, it's a very cruel way to kind of rip people from the community where they've established their life."
Sauve added that many of the countries whose protected statuses are under threat, like Haiti and Burma, have Do Not Travel advisories placed by the U.S. State Department.
“They say they're not safe for Americans to visit and yet they say that it will be safe for these individuals to return. So, people are scared, they're worried, they're not sure what their options are.”
Sauve said individuals whose have lost TPS can reach out to the MIRC to find out what their options are.
Battle Creek's Burmese community
Republican Steve Frisbie represents Michigan’s 44th state House district, which includes the Battle Creek area, home to a Burmese community of thousands.
Burma’s TPS status is one of many the Trump Administration has tried to end.
However, Frisbie said he supports the Supreme Court's decision on TPS, adding that people fleeing Burma should instead apply for Asylum.
“I'm all in favor of letting them come to the country, sort them out and look at them on an individual basis or a family basis to figure out what they're fleeing from and why and if it's legitimate and they're not from the military side of things in Burma.”
According to a statement last December from the Springfield Burma Center, around 50 TPS holders in the Battle Creek area could be affected by a status change.
Frisbie said he and U.S. Republican Representative Bill Huizenga reached out to the Burma center last January to discuss a different approach.
"The idea we pushed through the Burma Center folks was to get these people out of TPS, get them into a normal process, heading towards citizenship," Frisbie said.
"Get them headed down the right road that they can get their citizenship and stay here without fear."
Representative Huizenga and Democratic State Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin did not reply to a request for comment by deadline.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
