Lamont taps state fund to help temporary protected status recipients

“Many TPS holders have called Connecticut home for years, raising families, building businesses, contributing to our economy, and enriching the fabric of our state," Lamont said in a statement. "It is shameful that the Trump administration has decided to strip these individuals of their legal status and ability to work, knowing full well their countries of origin are still in the grips of violence and economic collapse." 

TPS is an acronym for temporary protected status.

In a letter to legislative leaders, Lamont's Office of Policy and Management Secretary Joshua Wojcik called on them to divert the funds for the Department of Social Services to provide "immediate support" for immigrant families impacted by changes in federal rules related to the Temporary Protected Status program, making them ineligible to work or access unemployment insurance. 

He said the department will distribute the funds to state-contracted refugee agencies. 

"Additional funding needs may be identified, which may require further transfers or expenditures of the remaining funds," Wojcik wrote to lawmakers.

The emergency fund, which was created by Lamont and lawmakers in response to federal cuts by the Trump administration, has nearly $264 million available, according to the Lamont administration. 

Haiti’s TPS designation was first granted in 2010 after a devastating earthquake and has been extended amid political instability in the country.

There are about 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S. under the TPS program, and Connecticut is home to about 5,000, according to federal data. 

Last year, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued an order reversing a move by then-President Joe Biden in 2024 to extend TPS for Haiti through February.

Connecticut is one of several states that sued to block the TPS expiration.

The TPS program was created as part of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act and grants migrants work authorization and protection from deportation if their country of origin is deemed unsafe due to armed conflict, natural disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

The Trump administration argues that TPS has been “exploited and abused” to allow more immigrants into the U.S. illegally and has accused the former Biden administration of attempting to “tie its hands” by extending Haiti’s protected status by 18 months.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority overturned lower court decisions by ⁠federal judges in New York and Washington, D.C., that had halted the Trump administration’s move to terminate temporary protected status for more than 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,100 from Syria. 

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that those with an expiring TPS designation have “one last opportunity” to accept free tickets and a payment to leave the country. 

"For those with an expiring TPS designation, these final days provide one last opportunity to accept $2,600 and a free flight home,” James Percival, DHS’s general counsel, posted on social media. "We strongly suggest you take advantage of this generous offer."