Redoubling Our Resolve: TBF Responds to the Supreme Court TPS Ruling
The termination of TPS by the Supreme Court disregards a simple but profound truth. It also strengthens our determination to stand with our immigrant neighbors.
By Lee Pelton, President and CEO
On Thursday, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, upheld the Trump Administration's elimination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians with deleterious implications for many other groups. Additionally, in another 6-3 ruling, the Court said that the Administration could deny migrants seeking asylum along the U.S.- Mexico border by physically preventing them from crossing into the United States as they sought protection from persecution. These rulings upend our nation’s immigration policy, including TPS, which was established 35 years ago with bipartisan Congressional support.
The Court’s rulings disregard this simple, but profound truth:
We are a nation of immigrants.
These dreadful and misplaced judicial decisions are made even more remarkable as we celebrate our nation’s founding 250 years ago. Most, if not all of us, can recite the poetic lines of hope and dreams inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty and its clarion call to freedom and sanctuary to the weary, tired and war-torn people seeking asylum in these United States.
According to Boston Indicators, TBF’s research arm, immigrants in Massachusetts accounted for $50.5 billion in spending power in 2024. Immigrant households contributed almost $7.4 billion in state and local taxes and more than $23 billion in federal taxes.
But immigrants are much more than sources of revenue. They are “us,” not “them.” They love this country that they call home.
They are our neighbors, co-workers, husbands, wives, and partners. They have advanced science and discovered new ways to solve our most intractable problems. They are entrepreneurs and business owners. They are professors, poets, philosophers and teachers. They care for our elders, our sick family and friends, and do much, much more.
Despite their considerable contributions to our economic vitality and cultural fabric, a mean-spirited federal administration is hell-bent on forcing these people of goodwill, love and hope to uproot from this place to an unsettled, and in many instances, a very dangerous future.
"As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, Haitian and Syrian families across our region are facing mounting pressure, and the demand for legal support has never been more urgent. We are responding by supporting and stabilizing the current legal aid crisis through our own funds as well as appealing to our donor partners."
The Boston Foundation’s close ties to our Haitian community are long-standing, beginning with the Haitian diaspora after the 2010 earthquake there. Our relationship has evolved and gathered strength through our association with the Haiti Development Fund, which is housed at the Boston Foundation. Our work in Haiti and with Haitians here has demonstrated the beautiful resilience and brilliance of our Haitian friends but also have given us space to understand that Haiti is still a country in crisis –– and this cruel decision to uproot families will do nothing to heal it.
As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, Haitian and Syrian families across our region are facing mounting pressure, and the demand for legal support has never been more urgent. We are responding by supporting and stabilizing the current legal aid crisis through our own funds as well as appealing to our donor partners.
Additionally, we have deepened our commitments to organizations on the front lines of this work–– including the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), the Association of Haitian Women in Boston, Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR), Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), the Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice, and De Novo––and we are in active conversation with the Offices of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Governor Maura Healey, as well as with Greater Boston Legal Services, about how we might do more together.
Many of these organizations have already received and will recieve additional resources from our Meeting the Moment Fund as soon as possible. But let me be direct: the need exceeds what any of us can meet alone. We will continue to work with with our community partners for additional opportunities to invest, because the families navigating these increasingly complex and intimidating systems deserve nothing less than our full effort. Defending rights and providing representation is not optional work. It is essential, and the Boston Foundation intends to meet this moment.
You can join us by going online to support our Meeting the Moment: Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors work, by donating directly to an immigrant-serving organization(s), or by finding another way to answer the call, stand up for our neighbors, and send a principled message: in the face of cruelty, we will not bend.
At the Boston Foundation, our mission is to improve lives and strengthen communities. The Court’s decision redoubles our resolve to do so.