Sanctioning Survival
The Trump administration's recent decision to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 1,700 Yemenis, exposing them to deportation back to a war-torn nation, was framed by officials as a return to 'normal immigration enforcement.' This move, made amid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis exacerbated by persistent U.S. and Saudi Arabian military interventions since 2014, ignores the
on-the-ground realities of a country where 80% of the population, over 24 million people, requires humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Such policy shifts are hardly novel. Washington has a documented history of weaponizing immigration status and aid during conflicts it influences. For instance, after the 1990-91 Gulf War, Iraqi and
Kuwaiti citizens in the U.S. faced similar precariousness, their fate often tied to broader geopolitical leverage rather than humanitarian need. In 2011, the Obama administration granted TPS to Yemenis due to escalating violence, acknowledging the dangers. However, the subsequent reversal under Trump, even as conditions worsened, exposes a cynical calculation. This pattern extends to how the U.S.
manipulates aid. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, where subsequent rebuilding efforts were criticized for prioritizing foreign interests over local empowerment, similar immigration policies were subject to review and sudden shifts. The current decision regarding Yemenis simply recycles this established tactic: apply maximum economic and political pressure, then add human displacement to the