Republicans blocked an attempt by Senate Democrats on Wednesday to pass a bill granting full legal status to migrants here under Temporary Protected Status.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, tried to push the measure through in an expedited fashion, but was met with an objection by Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri Republican.
“That’s how Democrats do mass amnesty,” Mr. Schmitt said.
Democrats’ bill would have granted green cards, signifying permanent legal residency, to migrants in the U.S. under TPS, which is a stay of deportation.
The Biden administration was prolific in its use of TPS, adding a million people to the nondeportation rolls. President Trump has been trying to roll back those decisions.
The Supreme Court last month gave him a huge boost, ruling that judges lack the power to question an administration’s decisions on TPS.
Some constitutional challenges are still in order, but the justices specifically rejected claims that Mr. Trump was discriminating against countries such as Haiti and Syria — the two cases before the high court — in trying to end their protections.
The court’s ruling took effect earlier this week as Homeland Security moved to declare Syrian and Haitian TPS over as of Monday.
Those who had TPS but lacked any other legal status are now subject to deportation.
Mr. Van Hollen begged colleagues to let the migrants stay.
“We should not be forcing these individuals back to countries where our own State Department has determined it would be dangerous,” he said. “The Supreme Court decision does not have to be the end of the story. We can write the end of that story.”
Last week, Democrats sought to pass a less sweeping bill that would have continued TPS status for Haitians.
Mr. Schmitt blocked that one as well.
This week’s legislation, he said, was worse. It not only applied to all TPS holders, going beyond Haitians, but also applied to people who never won TPS but could have qualified if they’d applied. He said it would even apply to people who’d been deported.
“This bill does not merely reward those who broke our laws and remain in our country; it reaches around the globe to reverse deportations and to restart mass migration,” Mr. Schmitt said.
Legislation specifically to extend temporary status to Haitians had previously cleared the House, even though that chamber is under GOP control.
A bipartisan coalition forced a vote and succeeded, 224-204.
Ten Republicans and one independent sided with Democrats.
Some 350,000 Haitians were covered by TPS.
With the end of that status, they are no longer eligible to work in the U.S.
Immigration activists have said that will hurt parts of the U.S. economy, such as healthcare.
Haiti was first approved for TPS after a devastating earthquake in 2010. Tens of thousands of Haitians have been living in the U.S. under that protection ever since.
The Biden administration then expanded the grant, citing ongoing political turmoil and instability in Haiti. That added some 300,000 new migrants, most of whom crossed the border without a legal visa during the Biden era.
Mr. Schmitt called that a pipeline to “amnesty.”
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