As Florida Governor Rick Scott and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson prepare to debate in the race to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate, Frank Sharry, America’s Voice Executive Director and Founder, issued the below statement:
The Trump Administration terminated the Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 TPS holders from Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador and Honduras and forced deportations will begin in the next few months. It is estimated that more than 44,000 Floridians are covered by TPS. They have more than 28,000 U.S. citizen children.
If we thought that the family separation crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border was massive, it is only a prelude of what could happen to tens of thousands of Florida families as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to cancel Temporary Protected Status. Many of these families right now are having conversations at home, wondering what to do. How can they take their US citizen kids to countries overrun by the same political violence Florida politicians decry every day? But how can they leave their children behind with a relative or a state agency?
While the family separation crisis is a creation of the Trump administration, it will be up to Congress to fix this looming tragedy. We need to hear from both Senator Nelson and Governor Scott on how they will stop the pending family separation crisis and find a permanent solution for these families.
It will take real leadership to stand up to the Trump deportation machine and find a true solution that protects Nicaraguans, Haitians and others right here on American soil. Both Scott and Nelson have an opportunity tonight to show true leadership. For the sake of all these families, let’s hope they seize it.