Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is leading a push to keep people who came to the United States from violence- and poverty-stricken nations from being doomed to becoming citizens without a country. 

Healey and 20 other attorneys general are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a lower court decision barring the way for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders from obtaining permanent residency in the U.S. 

A North Shore Community College graduate who raised his children in Lynn, El Salvadoran native Jose Palma lived for years worried about his future in the U.S. as a temporary protected status holder. 

He said TPS holders, including an estimated several hundred people from other countries living in Lynn, should be allowed a pathway to permanent U.S. residency.

Healey agreed.

“Thousands of TPS holders have lived in Massachusetts lawfully for decades, raising families, becoming active in their communities, joining the workforce, and contributing to our economy,” she said. 

TPS holders like Palma endured heightened anxiety when the Trump administration in 2017 subjected temporary protected status policies to close scrutiny. Healey and other attorneys general argue that Congress intended TPS to provide a path to permanent residency for people, like Palma, who fled countries ravaged by war and natural disasters. 

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition President Eva Millona said many TPS holders cannot return to their homelands and no assurance of securing permanent U.S. residency leaves them in limbo and effectively without a country. 

Massachusetts has 17,000 TPS residents and Millona said 5,600 worked during the past year as essential workers on the pandemic front lines. 

“Denying these immigrants the right to become permanent residents would harm them, their families, our communities, and our economy,” Healey said.

We agree with her.