But more than anything, more than just, I think, Somalis, this is another blatant attack on immigrant communities. Obviously, any administration, Democratic or Republican, must enforce the law. We must obey our immigration laws. People in this country must obey their immigration laws. But I think this blatant persecution without any clear evidence, logic or even any theory of what it is is deeply troubling. Look, if people are violent criminals, if they are delinquent, if they are a threat to this country, then of course I think those people should be eliminated. But I think such a blatant portrayal of an entire community, an entire population of people, in one broad stroke is deeply disturbing and problematic.
Sargent: So you mentioned Temporary Protected Status, often called TPS. Can you give us a very brief overview of what it is? I want to point out to people that Trump has actually ended TPS for a number of different groups. This is what is given to people who have faced some of the worst conditions imaginable on the planet. Can you talk about what TPS is?
Patel: Yes, temporary protected status is essentially what it sounds like. People in the United States from a specific country are protected from deportation and return to their home country. Historically, the United States has had a TPS program in a number of countries. Somalia is an example. Haiti is another country that has historically had a TPS program. Another one is Venezuela, and so on and so forth. And essentially, when you designate someone under TPS, under Temporary Protected Status, the Secretary of Homeland Security will say that any person from the country of origin, from the country that needs to be filled out, if they've been in the United States since date X because of conditions on the ground in that country, they're protected from removal from the United States because the conditions in those countries are so common that they only have to deal with danger and threat and things like that, human rights conditions, but also exposure to natural disasters and things like that. similar. like this. Whatever those conditions are that make it so that the conditions on the ground in that particular country make it so that they should not be returned there. And we had it; This is a bipartisan program that has existed in this country for many, many years. And historically there have been many countries for which we have had a TPS designation.
