TPS Supporters Gather in Pasadena to Await 9th District Court Decision

More than a dozen supporters gathered in front of the Ninth District Court on Grand Avenue in Pasadena Monday morning to await the decision whether President Trump violated US statutory and constitutional law when he issued an executive order to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS), stripping nearly half a million people of legal status.

The case, known as Ramos v. Nielsen will be heard by the Appeals court beginning today, and TPS advocates have vowed to demonstrate their support until the verdict is issued.

As Pablo Alvarado, Co-Executive Director of NDLON and co-anchor of the National TPS Alliance, explained, “There are 450,000 families from 12 different countries, who are beneficiaries of TPS. This is all based on a racist decision by President Trump.”

Alvarado also said that NDLON has provided legal counsel to assist the ACLU, which will be arguing on behalf of TPS families.

“The important thing is to keep all of these families together,” said Claudia Laínes, a TPS holder and staff member of the National TPS Alliance.

“We have earned the right to remain in our adoptive homeland,” she added.
America benefits from the fruits of our labor but refuses to accept our humanity. Our lives and our contributions are not temporary. 130,000 of us are performing essential jobs in the middle of the pandemic.”
The Supreme Court recently decided against an executive order by President Trump which sought to end DACA, also known as “The Dreamer’s Act.” Both Laines and Alvarado are optimistic that the Ninth District Court will take the Supreme Court’s verdict into consideration while they deliberate their own ruling.

“We think that the Ninth District was only waiting for the Supreme Court to make its decision before it made theirs, and we are optimistic,” said Laínes.

The TPS families have until January 4th, 2021 to remain in the US with TPS.

Supporters of TPS said in a press release Monday, that “If the Court decides against them, over 300,000 US citizen children will be forced to choose between their parents and their country, thousands of employers will lose workers, and the US will fail to live up to its values as a nation of migrants for the most part.”

“The uncertainty and the anxiety grow exponentially every day that goes by. It’s an agony that only makes me stronger when I am with others, organizing and fighting back. We will not rest until we obtain what we deserve: permanent residency,” added Cristina Morales, plaintiff in the federal lawsuit Ramos v. Nielsen.

“For TPS holders this wait constitutes a countdown to justice. We believe that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will advance racial justice this time around by declaring the President’s decision to terminate TPS unconstitutional,” said Alvarado.