The Supreme Court recently cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitians.
And now, DHS General Counsel James Percival has a message for anyone who thinks there will be a grace period before deportations begin. A Semisonic message, as it were.
During an exchange with Fox News’ Bill Melugin, who asked about said grace period, Percival quoted the song “Closing Time.” Which you just know will infuriate bleeding hearts who undoubtedly will whine about what they perceive as a callous response.
Meh. One person’s callousness is another man’s humor. And this reply is comedy gold, Jerry.
“The ‘T’ in TPS stands for ‘temporary,’ yet many of these designations go back decades,” he said, pointing out that those affected already had a plethora of time to address their situations.
“President Trump has been trying to end these programs since 2017. So these people have been on notice for nine years that this day is coming,” he added. “So what we would say now is that it’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
The DHS official explained that those affected are free to voluntarily self-deport via the CBP Home app: “The good news is it’s not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home.”