Congress Must Find a Way to Permanent Residency for TPS Holders
As Congress returns for the lame duck session, time is of the essence. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, their families, and advocates across the nation are demanding a permanent legislative fix for TPS after the Trump Administration terminated the program for more than 300,000 people, putting them at risk for deportation. This is especially concerning given that they are the parents to more than 275,000 US citizen children that may be left behind.
Last week, the TPS “Journey for Justice” bus tour wrapped up it’s 12-week tour of the U.S. with a demonstration and call to action for Congress in Washington D.C.
With less than two months remaining for Congress to create a pathway to permanent residency for TPS holders and avoid another potential family separation crisis, there is no time to waste.
A recap of recent developments regarding TPS and the Journey for Justice bus tour is below:
Lautaro Grinspan at The Washingtonian, “Here’s Why Immigrants Demonstrated in Front of the White House Today”
The goal of today’s rally—organized by the National TPS Alliance, a network of TPS holders around the country—was to call for a path to legal permanent residence for immigrants who are months away from losing their right to stay in the US. Many of those braving the rain in Lafayette Square were local—tens of thousands of TPS recipients, most of them from El Salvador, live in the DC area. Others were activists finishing a cross-country bus trip to try to save the TPS program, which the Trump administration plans to terminate for immigrants from six different countries. Almost all of the group’s chants were in Spanish, but one of them was in English, and to the point: “No residency, no peace!”
The Guardian’s Alexandra Villarreal, “Flee or hide: Haitian immigrants face difficult decisions under Trump”
The decision affects almost 60,000 people nationally, according to DHS figures from January. Experts say many of those individuals do not have another pathway to legal status in the US and will either be forced to leave or hide in the shadows.
Brenda Medina for the Miami Herald, “A caravan of immigrants already living in the U.S. has arrived in Miami”
The government’s plan comes as a caravan of TPS beneficiaries and immigration activists travel the country on a bus, knocking on the doors of politicians’ offices and organizing events and press conferences. The members of the caravan organized by the National TPS Alliance, who advocate a solution that grants permanent status for immigrants, were received by local organizations on Wednesday in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.
CNN’s Catherine Shoichet, “US unveils plans to comply with judge’s TPS order while appeal is pending”
In court documents filed late Tuesday, the government outlined how officials plan to comply with US District Judge Edward Chen’s preliminary injunction, which earlier this month blocked plans to end temporary protected status, or TPS, for immigrants from Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua.
Tim Padgett at WLRN, “TPS Bus Tour Stops In Miami Enroute To DC Urging Permanent Solution To Crisis”
“With this Journey for Justice campaign, we’re going out to every community, every Congress office, knocking on doors, to fight for a permanent solution,” said William Martinez, a Salvadoran TPS holder who lives in California and is taking part in the tour.
Jared Kline for WHSV, “Amid deportation threat, TPS recipients talk to local leaders”
“You can really see that anguish. All of a sudden, the rug is pulled out from underneath their existence in the United States,” said Dr. Oskar Scheikl, the Superintendent of Rockingham County Schools.
