New York AG Co-Leads 19-AG Coalition Backing TPS for Haitians and Syrians at High Court

The brief, announced by James's office on April 13, asks the Court to leave in place rulings that blocked the federal government from ending TPS for the two countries. The coalition argues that the administration's move to cancel the designations is unlawful and would upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of families.

"For generations, we have welcomed those fleeing danger in their home countries to build a safe and prosperous life in the United States," James said. "Immigrants with TPS hold valuable roles in our communities as business owners, workers, teachers, and parents."

James said the coalition "will continue to stand against the Trump administration's illegal attempts to cancel their legal status and tear families apart."

According to the attorney general's office, TPS has been extended to Haitians since 2010 and to Syrians since 2012. There are approximately 350,000 Haitians and more than 6,000 Syrians with TPS nationwide, the press release said, including at least 5,400 Haitian TPS holders in New York City.

The brief argues that Haitian TPS holders contribute $3.4 billion annually to the U.S. economy and that Syrian TPS holders contribute $165 million annually. Syrian immigrants own businesses "at more than triple the rate of U.S.-born citizens," the office said, and Haitian TPS holders fill roles as home health aides in New York.

The coalition argues that conditions in both countries remain dangerous. The State Department warns Americans not to travel to either country "due to the risk of violence, terrorism, civil unrest, and limited health care," according to the release, which the attorneys general describe as "the very conditions that prompted TPS protections for residents of these countries in the first place."

Terminating the designations, the coalition argues, would force parents to choose between "abandoning their children born in America and returning to their home country alone, taking their families with them to a dangerous and unfamiliar country, or remaining in the U.S. without legal status." The brief also contends that ending TPS would raise public health and safety risks by causing many holders to lose health insurance and making them unwilling to seek medical care or report crimes for fear of immigration enforcement.

Joining James on the brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.

The filing follows earlier amicus briefs from James's office on TPS. In March, James co-led 18 other attorneys general in urging the Supreme Court to uphold TPS for Haitians, and in February she co-led 17 other attorneys general in a brief filed with the D.C. Circuit on the same issue. In November 2025, she led 15 other attorneys general in a brief defending TPS for Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants, and in July 2025 she co-led 14 other attorneys general in a brief supporting TPS for immigrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal.