Thanksgiving in the U.S. is supposed to be a celebration of the coming together of cultures to give thanks to a plentiful harvest. Of course, the rosy portrayal shown in paintings is not historically accurate, but the tradition of being thankful and remembering how lucky you are is still an important facet of this day. Americans should not be blind this Thanksgiving to Trump’s immigration policies, which affect hundreds of thousands.
Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
On Sept. 5, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, fulfilling one of President Trump’s campaign promises, declared the end of the immigration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), with the final deadline for renewal Oct. 5 (no new applications are being accepted). According to NPR, over 4,000 of these renewal applications, out of 130,000, were recently rejected for being late, due to being stuck in the mail. While the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are considering appeals, thousands are still at risk of deportation. For many of these people, they would be going back to a country they do not even remember.
Another pressing issue for immigrants is the possible ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for around 320,000 immigrants. TPS is a provisional designation granted to immigrants who cannot return home, due to a number of conditions which include violence or natural disasters. Since the early 1990s, TPS holders have been able to legally work on a temporary basis and, although the program does not provide direct legal status, many have been in the country for decades. Haiti is one country whose citizens fall under this designation.
According to an article by Think Progress, the initial designation for Haiti’s TPS program came after the 2010 earthquake. Since that disaster, according to Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S. Paul Altidor, the country has faced numerous disruptions in living conditions, exacerbated by the recent hurricanes and cholera epidemic. The TPS for 50,000 Haitian recipients is set to expire on Jan. 22, 2018 with the decision deadline Nov. 23 – in other words, Thanksgiving day. President Trump has already ended TPS for roughly 2,500 Nicaraguans, the official end date for the program being January 2019. The TPS for Hondurans immigrants is still being determined, the designation extended through July 2018, when the administration will make a decision.
Courtesy of National Immigration Forum
Courtesy of National Immigration Forum
The immigrants forced to return to their home countries, where they might not have lived for 20 years, are not the only ones who will suffer if TPS ends. According to a Center for American Progress Report, New York alone would lose $262 million annually in GDP without its Haitian TPS workers. According to the National Immigration Forum, TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti contribute a combined $4.5 billion in pre-tax salary income annually to the U.S.’s GDP. The total Social Security and Medicare contributions of these individuals are also high, estimated at more than $6.9 billion over a decade.
In a country where it is tradition to show mercy to a Thanksgiving turkey, do not turn a blind eye to the lives of thousands of immigrants, many of whom are Americans in every way but actual citizenship. To learn more about supporting Dreamers, check out DoSomething.org.
Courtesy of Cheyenne Tang and Do Something