U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin urged migrants on temporary protected status to apply for permanent residency or depart, warning that the humanitarian designation is not permanent. His comments came days after a split Supreme Court decision p
By the time the June 28 remarks aired, the legal clock had already started ticking for families living in the United States under temporary protected status.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that migrants in the country on TPS should either pursue permanent residence or prepare to leave their home countries. Speaking on Sunday, June 28, he framed the choice as a practical deadline rather than a lingering promise.
“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 said. He added that the government would provide “a plane ticket, plus roughly $2,100 to help you re-establish when you get there.”
At the center of the message was his insistence that TPS—defined by federal law as temporary legal residency granted to people fleeing war. disaster. or other adverse conditions—is not. by its nature. a permanent status. “But temporary protective status, according to the courts and in its name itself, is not permanent status,” he said.
The remarks landed after the Supreme Court’s split decision last week. a turn the Trump administration has seized on to move toward stripping humanitarian protections from large groups of immigrants. The court’s conservative majority allowed the administration to strip hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants of a humanitarian status that shields them from deportation to home countries marked by conflict and destitution.
Federal law allows the administration to grant TPS to people fleeing war. disaster. or other adverse conditions. and that status had been renewed successively. Despite the effort to end these protections. the State Department currently warns against travel to both Haiti and Syria. citing widespread violence. crime. terrorism. and kidnapping.
The TPS designation for the two populations traces back to disaster and war. The United States first provided TPS to Haitians after a devastating earthquake in 2010, and it extended TPS to Syrians after Syria descended into civil war in 2012.
The prospect of large-scale removals is meeting pushback, including from Republicans. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, also speaking to CNN on Sunday, June 28, said it was not safe for Haitians to return and warned that removal would damage the Ohio economy and leave the healthcare system short-staffed.
DeWine tied his opposition to what the Haitian community means on the ground. “It’s Haitians who many times are taking care of your mom or your dad who has Alzheimer’s. taking care of family members who might be in a nursing home. ” he said. “And to say we’re going to pull all those out, it’s just not in our own self-interest.”.
His remarks also pointed to the political heat around the issue. During the 2024 election, Trump falsely accused Haitians living in Ohio of eating others’ household pets. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority found. however. that Haitians suing the administration were unlikely to succeed in their argument that the administration’s actions were racially biased.
Economic questions also hang over the timeline. The presence of Haitians in Ohio has helped spur economic revival in some areas that had fallen into post-industrial decline, boosting wages and job creation, Reuters has reported.
Taken together. the sequence is stark: the Supreme Court’s ruling opened the door for the administration to end TPS protections for Haitian and Syrian immigrants. and Mullin’s message on June 28 turned that legal shift into a personal ultimatum—apply for permanent status or plan to leave. with the government offering travel assistance and about $2. 100 for re-establishment.
Even as the administration’s stance hardens, the warnings and resistance remain in view. The State Department’s travel advisory underscores the risks it associates with Haiti and Syria. while DeWine argues that the cost of removal would be felt not just by families abroad. but by hospitals and employers at home.
For migrants living under TPS, the debate is no longer abstract. It now moves through paperwork choices, contested timelines, and the immediate reality of how a temporary status—renewed for years—may be reshaped by a court decision and the administration’s next steps.
DHS Markwayne Mullin temporary protected status TPS Supreme Court Trump administration Haitian immigrants Syrian immigrants deportation Homeland Security Ohio Mike DeWine
So basically they’re saying “good luck” with paperwork, got it.
I saw the headline and thought DHS was making TPS illegal or something. If it’s “temporary” why are families even there for years? Also $2,100 and a plane ticket sounds like a joke, like that’s supposed to fix people’s lives.
Wait so TPS is temporary but they act surprised the clock started? Courts already said things, and the article’s all like “split Supreme Court decision” but it doesn’t explain what it means for regular people. I’m not saying immigrants should just stay forever… but $2,100 doesn’t even cover rent for a month.
This is why nobody trusts the govt. One minute it’s humanitarian and renewed, next minute it’s “depart” and they’ll help you go back. I heard on TikTok that Haitians are getting targeted more or whatever, so maybe this is just part of that. Either way, “paperwork or leave” is wild to say out loud like it’s that simple.