Rabbi’s Update 6/26/2026

Dear Friends:

Yesterday, as you may know, the Supreme Court issued a 6 -3 ruling which allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to remove Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from approximately 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians. The Court’s majority held that under the law, the Homeland Security Secretary’s decision to end TPS for a particular country cannot be reviewed by the courts. I sometimes have to remind myself that the role of the courts is to decide what is legal, not what is morally or ethically correct. It is hard to understand how it is now safe for Haitians to return to a country which is still under a “Do Not Travel” warning, the highest possible level, from the State Department. 

It is not uncommon in situations like this to hear people ask some form of the question “why didn’t they (or why don’t they) just become citizens?” Asking this question, while perhaps well meaning, indicates a lack of understanding as to what “Temporary Protected Status” means and how it works.

TPS was enacted by Congress in 1990 and was originally designed to handle the massive flow of refugees from the Salvadoran civil war. There were hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans in this country with no legal status who did not qualify under any of the various rubrics then operating, such as asylum or refugee status. Congress and the administration of President George H.W. Bush wanted to normalize their status and protect them from being returned to El Salvador in the middle of a civil war.

The problem of “Temporary Protected Status” is precisely that it is designated as Temporary. There is no way to convert TPS into any sort of permanent status that protects the holder from deportation and provides a pathway to eventual citizenship. As a result, there are people right here in our community -- over 30,000 in Montgomery County alone -- whose permission to work legally and remain in the country is now at immediate risk. And many of them have been here “temporarily” for over 30 years. They have spouses and children who are US citizens. They own businesses and homes and are an integral part of the community. It is apparently now legal, or soon will be, to remove these folks, but no one has yet been able to explain to me how their presence is harmful to the country or the local community, and how sending them back to dangerous situations is beneficial to us.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” has now been cancelled by the Supreme Court of the United States. It must be restored by the Congress, and soon.

If you or someone you know is in need because of having been laid off, or has  lost benefits of some type and needs immediate help, please let me know. I can access limited funds through the Jewish Federation almost immediately. For longer-term help, the Hebrew Free Loan Society will loan up to $18,000 interest-free and the Jewish Federation has set up a hotline to access assistance at 703-JCARING.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building. 

As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by. 

Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian