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Starting a new thread here on how the Senate GOP bill doesn't extend TPS either and actually guts it, including going forward. It is entirely new program & new restrictive status. Media should stop reporting that the bill would extend TPS
First, it only applies to four nationalities. Nepal, Sierre Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Sudan are, for whatever reason, left off, meaning that it is wrong to claim that it extends TPS in general for those harmed by Trump’s cancellations 
The bill wouldn’t allow automatic extension of work eligibility, as a TPS extension would, meaning that TPS recipients would need to be approved for work authorization before they could work legally again
Note that DHS wouldn’t need to implement this “extension of TPS” until a year from enactment, which means that throughout that time immigrants who have lost their TPS couldn’t work legally because there’s no automatic extension
The bill requires TPS recipients to reapply and reprove their eligibility. This is a significant cost, with all the related fees and attorney consultations that a full applications requires. TPS extension would have been immediate at $0 cost (for status only)
The standard processing fee for an extension of TPS (status only) is ZERO, but not under McConnell’s bill uscis.gov/i-821
This increases the evidentiary standard to receive status, treating TPS recipients like applicants with a history of marriage fraud. This higher standard is 2nd only to beyond a reasonable doubt. It’ll be *much* harder for TPS recipients to meet this
This requirement is totally new, excluding TPS recipients making less than 125% of the poverty line. No exceptions at all except for students. This is huge departure from the current TPS program.
TPS requires a conviction of a felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States, not a mere charge for any offense at all. Many misdemeanors include minor traffic offenses.
This would exclude people from TPS who have been ordered removed in absentia, even if the removal order has been reopened and they would be able to get it rescinded.
This provision is totally unprecedented in the history of immigration law, requiring TPS recipients to pay back legally obtained tax credits. This would punish many, especially those with children.
This would impose a new $500 fee, on top of existing fees, to pay for the Trump wall. This would more than double the cost of renewing TPS & TPS work authorization. For people with TPS who don’t need work authorization. It’s an entirely new $500 cost
I just want to revisit this provision in that applicants would need to prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that work authorization would not be “contrary to the national interest”. OK, try that under this admin
This provision prevents TPS recipients who legally travel abroad and return legally from being able to adjust status (mainly through marriage to a U.S. citizen) to legal permanent residence. I love the nativist doublespeak here (“admission is not an admission”)
But we’re not done. The bill would permanently end TPS as it exists now by making only lawfully present aliens eligible for TPS going forward, gutting the main beneficiaries of the program. So guts it for current & future TPS recipients
There’s lots more in here as well. But media need to get away from this narrative that Trump is actually “extending” these programs. He’s ENDING them (still) appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Oh, and of course the fact that DHS cannot accept applications for this new status other than during a 6-month period is a huge change.
Wrote up the key points of this thread here: cato.org/blog/senate-go…
