After district courts struck down the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to terminate temporary protected status, or TPS, for immigrants from several countries, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the issue later this month.
Members of MomsRising, a nonprofit advocacy group, spoke Friday at Utah Capitol’s rotunda, asking U.S. Congress to pass legislation to guarantee protected status for immigrants they worry are at risk.
On Friday afternoon, MomsRising senior director Linda Stone, state Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D–Salt Lake City, state House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D–Salt Lake City, local religious leaders and educators took turns explaining why they believe temporary status should be granted permanently.
“I think there is a moral responsibility for us to continue to be a country that opens the doors, and that continues to bring hope for anyone and everyone,” Escamilla said.
The issue has been debated in courts throughout President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Last June, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said that since conditions in Haiti had improved since President Barack Obama issued TPS in 2010, the status would be fully terminated in September 2025.
The decision was blocked by U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan. Then last month, Supreme Court justices said they would hear the case.
As of last March, approximately 1.3 million people from 17 countries were in the U.S. under the temporary protected status designation, per the Congressional Research Service. Of these 1.3 million, 20,100 live in the state of Utah, per the American Immigration Council.
Salt Lake City teacher: Immigration issues influence kids’ behavior
Emma Metos, a teacher in the Salt Lake City School District, said she believes the political conversation surrounding immigration is hindering her students’ ability to focus in class.
“Because of threats to legal status ... like TPS, my students feel as though they must provide for their families and prepare for the day when they come home from school and their parents are not here, having been detained while they were not home,” she said.
She said their immigration status leaves them worried about the safety of their loved ones, even as they try to make ends meet under difficult conditions.
“Fear makes learning impossible, and it makes school less of a safe place for self-improvement and growth, and more of a prison where students feel they are deprived of precious, potentially limited time with their parents and loved ones,” she said.
Since Trump’s inauguration last January, at least 3,040 people in Utah have been arrested for having illegally entered the country. As of last August, about 304,900 foreign-born individuals lived in Utah, accounting for about 8.9% of the state’s population.
Whose duty is it to decide who gets TPS?
The section of federal law defining TPS gives deciding authority to the executive branch, under which the Department of Homeland Security operates.
If the foreign state no longer continues to meet the conditions for designation, the DHS secretary can give a 60-day notice to terminate the designation. Noem announced the termination for Yemen, Haiti, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan and Venezuela 60 days in advance.
Noem said mid-February, “TPS was never designed to be permanent, yet previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program for decades. Given the improved situation in each of these countries, we are wisely concluding what was intended to be a temporary designation.”
Since the beginning of 2026, Trump has also discussed TPS on social media.
After evidence of fraud emerged in Minnesota in January, Trump posted to Truth Social, “I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”