Ocasio-Cortez: Deporting immigrants under TPS will increase labor costs

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday said labor costs will rise if immigrants under temporary protected status (TPS) are deported as a result of the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing the Trump administration to terminate protections for some immigrants in the U.S.

The justices ruled 6-3 that the Trump administration can remove thousands of Haitians and Syrians who currently have TPS, which allows immigrants from certain countries to live in the U.S. legally with a pathway to work authorization.

“Well, who is going to be helping repair your home?” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters outside Capitol Hill. “I can tell you long-term care is going to go up. Healthcare is going to rise. You know, hospital workers. There are a lot of costs that are going to go up by these mass disruptions of our labor market, driven by pretty repressive and non-data-backed decisions that are coming out of this White House and the Supreme Court.”

Ocasio-Cortez noted that some Republican lawmakers from states that are home to large Haitian communities spoke out against what could happen to those communities if their protected status is terminated. Four GOP House members signed a discharge petition for a resolution that would require the Trump administration to extend TPS.

“So when I think of this issue, there’s certainly a coalition that’s possible, especially in places where the Haitian community … there have been so many really acknowledging really how necessary and valued they are,” she continued, adding that there’s a possibility for the resolution to pass in the House.

The resolution would order the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to designate Haiti for TPS until Jan. 20, 2029.

President Trump has sought to revoke TPS for Haitian nationals in the U.S., making the argument that the protections they receive should not last several years. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Sunday made the case on CNN that there are “a lot of people that came over here 15, 20 years ago underneath TPS that’s already changed their status.”

One of the Republicans who signed on to the discharge petition, Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.), warned that terminating TPS for the one-third of more than 350,000 Haitian TPS holders working in the U.S. healthcare system “will create a crisis in our hospitals, nursing homes and the I/DD [intellectual and developmental disabilities] community.”

Lawler is also the co-sponsor of a bill with Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) to extend Haitian TPS. Gillen previously told The Hill in a statement that forcing the House to vote on the resolution “is an important milestone to protect the lives of our Haitian friends and neighbors across the country.”

The high court’s decision delivered Trump a major victory as part of his immigration crackdown. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court’s opinion that federal judges do not have the authority to weigh in on most of the claims. He also accused plaintiffs of seeking “to capitalize on … heated language” from Trump and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Donald Trump

Kristi Noem

Laura Gillen

Markwayne Mullin

Michael Lawler

Samuel Alito

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