Supreme Court finds TPS holders who entered illegally are not eligible for permanent residence

The Supreme Court of Justice ruled on Monday, June 07, people who possess Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and who entered the United States illegally, will not be eligible to become legal permanent residents and therefore, have access to the  Green Card. The magistrates, whose vote was unanimous 9-0, noted that the Immigration and Nationality Act (INE) states that eligibility for permanent resident status generally requires lawful entry of the alien into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer. According to the ruling, those who entered the United States on a visa and registered a legal admission are not affected by the ruling. Currently, there are more than 400,000 people living in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status. The last beneficiaries of the TPS are the citizens of Venezuela, who were granted in March of this year by the administration of President Biden. The other countries covered by this temporary protection benefit are El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Nepal, Syria, Nicaragua, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan and Myanmar. Pending Cases In relation to the pending applications for residence in cases filed in the three circuits where the benefit of residence was allowed, nothing has yet been defined. For those residencies that have already been granted, the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will not revoke them as they were not incorrectly approved So, the problem is for people who have pending cases, but who were submitted before the court’s decision since it is not known if they will continue to be prosecuted or will be affected by the new decision. Dreamers could be affected Monday’s decision to close residency for thousands of TPS holders is a wake-up call to thousands of Dreamers who have similar humanitarian protection and are pushing for legal entry into the United States when they return after an authorized departure and may be eligible to become legal permanent residents. This may not be entirely true as it is waiting for the senate to pass the bills passed by the House of Representatives on March 18. At that time the House, with bipartisan support, approved two bills, one for Dreamers, one for TPS holders, and one for farmworkers, which include a pathway to residency. After a period of five years, beneficiaries will be eligible to become citizens. In fact, President Biden has already expressed his support for this initiative, which, although it was approved in March by the House of Representatives, is still pending discussion and vote in the Senate. The Precedent The court decided on the appeal of a lawsuit filed by José Santos Sánchez, a Salvadoran citizen who entered the country illegally in 1997 and subsequently benefited from TPS in 2001. Thirteen years later, in 2014, Sanchez applied to the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for adjustment of status in search of permanent residence, which was rejected. Sánchez did not lower his arms and managed to appeal the decision to a District Court based on the argument that having been granted TPS the government had basically given him legal entry into the country. Some time later, the Third Circuit reversed the District Court’s decision based on section 1255 of the Immigration and Nationality Law that the adjustment of status benefit is provided to people who lawfully entered the United States. Want to get advice? call us at (213) 309-9123 and get your first consultation completely free.