ALSO SEE: Trump Administration Ends Immigration
Protection for 262,500 Salvadorans

US Moves to Expel a Quarter of a Million Salvadorans

By Franco Ordoñez and Anita Kumar, McClatchy DC

08 January 18

 

he Trump administration is ending a special immigration status for about 200,000 Salvadorans who were allowed to live and work legally in the United States since the 2001 earthquakes that killed 1,100 people and displaced more than 1 million.

The Homeland Security Department said the conditions in El Salvador that had been used to justify the special protections, known as Temporary Protective Status, are no longer applicable. The benefit will be extended 18 more months until September 2019, to give Salvadorans time to prepare to return home.

When announcing the change, a senior administration official said that many of the recovery projects started after the earthquakes were over and the economy was improving.

“Damaged schools and hospitals have been reconstructed and repaired,” the official said. “Homes have been rebuilt and money has been provided for water and sanitation and to repair damaged roads and other infrastructure.”

Salvadorans are the largest group of TPS recipients. The decision to end the protection’s program is “perhaps one of its most consequential and weighty immigration decisions to date,” according to the American Immigration Council, a Washington-based immigration advocacy group.

The Trump administration said any TPS holders, including children, would revert to their previous status. If someone married a U.S. citizen, they can apply for new protections, but they must be here legally. And many of these individuals will lose their status in September 2019.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that only Congress can legislate a permanent solution for those currently protected by TPS and that the delay will allow Congress time to craft a potential legislative solution.

"We look forward to working with them," said a senior administration official.

Advocates quickly condemned what they described as a “reckless and inhumane” decision.

“Needlessly ripping protection away from the largest group of TPS recipients in the United States will tear families apart and have dire consequences for our economy,” said Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center.