We reported earlier this year that the Obama Administration had granted “Temporary Protected Status” to Syrians already in the US.  They could be here for any of a myriad reasons, or indeed be here illegally, but now they won’t be required to return to Syria (forever!).

One could argue that we do need to give temporary asylum when there has been a war or a huge natural disaster, but the problem with TPS is that we never send them home—they stay for decades and then the argument becomes, well, they have roots here now, we can’t uproot their families and businesses.   See Mark Krikorian at the Center for Immigration Studies 13 years ago—-there is nothing quite so permanent as a temporary refugee!

Here is the latest on TPS for Syrians from the Paramus Post:

As of October 13, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received 2,614 applications for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from Syrian nationals in the U.S. On March 23, 2012, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano approved the status for Syrian Nationals already residing within the U.S. In the registration period that lasted from March 29, 2012, to September 25, 2012, USCIS has so far granted 273, only denying five applicants.  [gee wonder what terrorist/crime connections they have?–ed]

On December 19, 2011, AAI [Arab American Institute] sent a letter to President Obama asking for TPS to be granted to Syrians living in the U.S.

Six US Senators helped make this happen:

Then, in a letter dated March 1, 2012, U.S. Senators Durbin (IL), Leahy (VT), Feinstein (CA), Menendez (NJ), Cardin (MD) and Casey (PA) offered their support to granting TPS to Syrian nationals at the time it was under review.

[….]

“When we originally made this request to the President, it was because we knew the importance of protecting Syrian nationals from what was deteriorating into a full-blown humanitarian crisis,” said AAI president James Zogby.

Zogby, a powerful Democrat, is the brother of the pollster John Zogby and according to his wikipedia page their father got into the US illegally.

To learn more about Temporary Protected Status, here is an archive of our posts on the topic.