Last week the Trump administration made it clear: Salvadorans must go. In a decision announced on January 5th, the Department of Homeland Security, under the authority of the White House, ended Temporary Protective Status for nearly a quarter of a million natives of El Salvador. While many of us are closely following the negotiations between President Trump and Congress regarding the future of DACA (a program that protects Americans who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children), the Trump Administration has already successfully implemented measures to remove immigrants from the U.S.
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What is TPS?
Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian immigration program through the Department of Homeland Security that allows citizens of certain countries, many of whom have fled their native country due to natural disasters or crises of war, to stay and work in the United States legally. According to The New York Times, Salvadorans have been working and living in the United States legally since 2001 following a series of devastating earthquakes in El Salvador. For nearly two decades, Salvadorans have been building families and stable homes despite the immeasurable difficulties of fleeing unlivable conditions in their native country. Salvadorans must now make arrangements to leave the country or face deportation in 2019.
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The Trump Administration’s move to end protections for Salvadorans follows a series of immigration decisions made by the White House in the last couple of months. As the shutdown looms, members of both the House and Senate are working to negotiate across party lines to make a deal on immigration. Although the future does not look bright for continued TPS for Salvadorans, what remains is nearly 800,000 Americans who have worked legally for years under the Obama-era DACA program. In the next couple of days, there will be an immense amount of debate between both houses of Congress and the White House as the government awaits a funding bill.
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For more information, please visit The New York Times