Washington, DC – An array of voices are highlighting the devastating potential implications for TPS holders and the nation of last week’s news that the Ramos settlement talks broke down. As CBS News reported, “due to the talks’ collapse, roughly 337,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras could lose their ability to live in the U.S. legally under TPS as early as next year, after a period of time for the government to wind down the program.”
Unless their status is immediately resolved, through urgent action by the Biden administration and/or a permanent fix from Congress, the settlement talks breaking down has the potential to inflict disruption and damage to our economy and the communities where these TPS recipients have deep roots, as an array of voices are highlighting:
- Gabe Ortiz writing at Daily Kos: “…an end to TPS relief could become another child separation crisis, but this time on the Biden administration’s watch … some affected individuals have had permission to live in the U.S. for many years, and are parents to nearly a quarter of a million U.S. citizen kids. This end to relief could mean parents being forced to uproot their families from their homes and communities, or leave them behind rather than taking them to unsafe conditions.”
- Elsy Flores de Ayala, Plaintiff in Ramos and National TPS Alliance leader: “When President Biden arrived at the White House, I was hopeful that he would change the policies that left TPS holders vulnerable. That has not happened. The administration’s failure to reach an agreement to resolve our case is heartbreaking for us all. But we will not give up the fight to keep our families safe and together.”
- Jessica Bansal, Legal Director of Unemployed Workers United: “This is not where we hoped (or expected) to be nearly two years after President Biden took office. TPS holders and their families deserve better. We will continue to fight these cruel and unlawful terminations for as long as necessary.”
- Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer for the Ramos case plaintiffs to the Washington Post: “Those families have seen politicians use them as pawns for far too long,” Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “And it is shocking to me that the Biden administration was unable to prevent that pattern from continuing.”
- Doris Landaverde, 43, a mother of three U.S. citizens in Massachusetts who works as a custodian at Harvard University, told the Washington Post: “She arrived in the United States in 2000 from El Salvador and [said the implications of the Ramos case] … could divide her family. Her husband is from Morocco. ‘We had put our hopes in the negotiations … This has devastated me and the entire community. … It means we have to pack our bags and go.’”
According to Douglas Rivlin, Director of Communication for America’s Voice:
“Many of the TPS holders who are in legal limbo right now have lived in the U.S. longer than they have lived in any other country. They have businesses, careers, mortgages, and children who are U.S. citizens and are deeply rooted here. The current uncertainty in their lives has an impact on their families, their employers, their businesses and their communities and this was totally avoidable. President Biden needs to act as soon as possible, even as we try to get Republicans in Congress to join Democrats in legislating a permanent fix. Having hundreds of thousands of long-term immigrants living their lives in 18-month increments of TPS extensions and renewals is no way to run an economy, and the impact of failing to address their expiring status is a hit to the U.S. economy at large that we can prevent.”
