Ending Temporary Protected Status Will Put Women And Girls At Grave Risk

Washington, DC – The Women’s Refugee Commission released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Mullin v. Doe, which will terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 4,000 Syrians. TPS gives people who come from countries the government has deemed too dangerous to return to the legal status to live and work in the United States. The State Department has issued a Level 4 travel advisory (do not travel) for Syria and Haiti due to life-threatening risks.

“This decision places women and families at grave risk,” said Zain Lakhani, Director of Migrant Rights and Justice at WRC. “Allowing the administration to end TPS puts Haitian and Syrian women and girls, who have built their lives and contributed to communities across the United States, at risk of deportation to countries marred by violence, persecution, and serious human rights abuses.

“The decision to end TPS for Haitians leaves women and girls at risk of severe gender-based violence. In Haiti, where more than 1.4 million people have been forcibly displaced by widespread gang violence, women and girls face escalating sexual and gender-based violence, including trafficking, sexual slavery, rape, and gang rape by organized criminal groups.

“Forcing Syrian mothers to return to Syria puts American-born children at risk of family separation or discrimination due to lack of citizenship status,” continued Lakhani. “Ongoing political instability and humanitarian crises expose women and girls to severe physical, psychological, and sexual violence. Further, Syrian mothers deported back to Syria would have no guarantee that their American-born children could return with them, as gender discrimination in the country’s nationality law prevents Syrian women from passing their citizenship to their children.”

“Forcing Syrian women to return means sending them back to ruins without housing or any economic empowerment programs to protect them. Furthermore, mothers whose children hold other nationalities face harsh financial and psychological challenges; because their children are treated as foreigners, priority for rights and services is given to Syrian citizens, especially under current economic conditions,” said Rasha Altabshi, Syrian refugee and Executive Director of Warsheh Team, a Syrian human rights organization focused on women and nationality rights. Ms. Altabshi collaborates with Women’s Refugee Commission via the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights. “The Supreme Court’s decision ignores a bitter reality: Syria cannot be deemed safe just because the Assad regime fell, as the country is navigating a critical transition amid total economic collapse. What is uniquely terrifying is the imminent threat faced by minorities, particularly Alawite and Druze women, given the surge in human rights violations and documented kidnappings over the past year. America cannot claim to champion human rights while driving women and children into an environment that lacks the bare minimum of safety and stability.”

To prevent women and families from facing these grave dangers, the Women’s Refugee Commission calls on Secretary Mullin to uphold Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians and for Congress to pass legislation that would extend TPS for these, and other, vulnerable populations.

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