As Protected Status Ends, Hundreds of Thousands of Immigrants Risk Deportation to Central America and the Caribbean.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
First, it was Haitians, followed by Nicaraguans, with Hondurans and Salvadorans on a waiting list: The Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which for years allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants to stay in the US, is quickly being dismantled by the Trump administration.
TPS was originally granted to Haitian nationals in 2011, after the earthquake that devastated Portau-Prince in January 2010 (NotiCen, Jan. 21, 2010, Feb. 18, 2010, April 29, 2010). About 60,000 persons have remained in the US under that status, which was routinely extended for successive 18- to 24month periods.
But on Nov. 20, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was issuing a final, 18-month extension, and that TPS for Haitians would end in July 2019. In a press release, DHS said the final extension was intended to give Haitians in the US enough time to get ready to return to their homeland. Seeing the decision coming, many Haitian began crossing the US border to Canada earlier this summer (NotiCen, Sept. 7, 2017).
The DHS has also set its sights on Central American TPS beneficiaries.
On Nov. 6, DHS served notice to the approximately 5,300 Nicaraguans under TPS that the final expiration date for their status would be Jan. 5, 2019. As a reason for this decision, DHS said that the Nicaraguan government had not requested an extension (NotiCen, Nov. 30, 2017).
DHS said at the time that it was preparing to announce a decision regarding the approximately 263,000 Salvadorans and 86,000 Hondurans under TPS, whose respective deadlines are March and July 2018.
Nicaraguan and Honduran migrants received TPS after hurricane Mitch ripped through Central America in 1998 (NotiCen, Nov. 12, 1998), causing extensive damage in these two neighboring nations. Salvadorans became eligible after two powerful earthquakes hit their country in January and February 2001.
TPS grants protection from deportation to immigrants at risk in their home countries because of "extraordinary and temporary conditions," such as armed conflict, destructive natural events, or epidemics. TPS allows the immigrants to stay and work in the US regardless of their visa status.
Central Americans make up the majority of the general Latin American immigrant population in the US. People from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras--the countries that make up Central America's so-called Northern Triangle, make up the largest portion of that group. Guatemalan immigrants, however, are not under TPS (NotiCen, Jan. 7...
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