Immigrant Rights Advocates Argue Trump's Ending Of Migrant Protections Is Racist

Immigrant rights advocates will argue in Boston Federal Court Thursday that racism was behind the Trump administration's cancellation of temporary protected status for some immigrants of color.

TPS allows immigrants to stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation after natural disasters or civil unrest in their home counties.

The Trump administration has ended the temporary humanitarian protection for immigrants from countries including Haiti, Honduras and El Salvador. Government officials say things have improved in these countries,  and they must consider only conditions related to the events that prompted the TPS designation. In Haiti and El Salvador, that was earthquakes and in Honduras it was a massive hurricane.

But Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice says ending TPS has more to do with discrimination against immigrants than conditions on the ground.

"The government considers them undesirable and is finding ways at every turn to deport them," he said.

The government is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.

WBUR Reporter Shannon Dooling contributed to this report