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Deadline On TPS for Haitians Approaching Fast as Criticism of DHS Decision to Terminate Nicaragua Mounts

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DHS Decision To Renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 50,000 Haitians in 15 DAYS

Uncertainty For Haiti As Decision Deadline Fast Approaches on November 23, 2017 

NBC: Trump Actions on Protected Status Prompt Outcry from Latino Lawmakers, Advocates

Latino advocates and legislators from both parties criticized the Trump administration’s announcement that it would terminate a program that allows about 3,000 Nicaraguans to stay and work in the U.S. legally as well as delay the decision on whether to extend the program to recipients from Honduras.

Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, (R-Fl), is one of several Florida Republicans who had called for an extension of TPS; he criticized the decision in a statement.

“I am deeply pained by and strongly disagree with the decision to phase out the Temporary Protected Status for Nicaraguan nationals living in the United States,” said Díaz-Balart. “They are hardworking individuals who have substantial roots in this country and have made contributions to our society and local economies.”

A bipartisan coalition of legislators led by Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., proposed a bill last week that would grant TPS recipients from Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador and Nicaragua a chance to apply for permanent residency.

Vox: The Trump administration is plunging 57,000 Honduran immigrants into limbo

Haitians’ six-month TPS extension expires in January — giving the administration until November 23 to announce what will happen to the 50,000 Haitian TPS holders after that. But the shot across the bow in May raised concerns that Hondurans and Salvadorans, the other two groups that account for the overwhelming majority of TPS beneficiaries, might not even get the six-month wrap-up period, and that the government would strip 300,000 immigrants of protections over the first 10 weeks of 2018. 

Miami Herald: Trump administration to end TPS for Nicaraguans. No decision on Haitians, Salvadorans

But the bigger impact will come when the administration makes a final decision on the status of Salvadorans and Haitians. Haitians’ status is set to expire in January 2018, affecting about 50,000 people, most of them in Florida, while Salvadorans’ status expires in March 2018, affecting nearly 200,000 people.

Homeland Security officials also announced that Honduras will get a six-month TPS extension, until July 2018, after the program was set to expire in January. Just under 60,000 Hondurans have received TPS.

“These are people who have had to go to the Department of Homeland security every 18 months, and have shown their papers, their information, their records, have paid to be renewed. They have consistently complied with the Department of Homeland Security. They are the fabric of our communities, and our economies and our industries,” said Maria Rodriguez of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.