tags: , , , AVEF, Press Releases

TPS Holders Facing Deportation Make Their Voices Heard Across Country, Demand Congressional Action

Share This:

A series of media reports highlight the urgency people feel across the country to call on lawmakers to prioritize and protect Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by enacting a permanent legislative solution for 300,000+ TPS holders nationwide facing deportation. Advocates in ArizonaNevadaColorado, and California are urging Congress not to lose sight of TPS holders now facing deportation in the midst of immigration negotiations.

 Relevant excerpted coverage follows below:

Phoenix New Times: Despite Noise From Trump Fans, Activists Urge Jeff Flake to Save TPS

By Joseph Flaherty

Carrasco was focused on the goal at hand. She urged Flake to support a permanent legislative resolution during upcoming budget negotiations that could save Dreamers and TPS recipients who are at risk of being deported.

“He needs to take a really strong stance that deportation is not the answer, and this is a humanitarian issue,” Carrasco said. “And if he really is a Republican, he stands for family values — he would recognize that they’re tearing families apart, and this basically goes against their platform.”

Trump has announced an end to TPS for three countries — Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador — while decisions on whether TPS will continue for immigrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Syria are slated to take place later this year. There are over 1,100 TPS recipients from El Salvador, Haiti, and Honduras living in Arizona, according to the Center for American Progress; over 1,300 children in Arizona have TPS-holding parents from these countries.

Nevada Independent: TPS recipients, overshadowed by DREAMers, wage fight for attention, action

By Humberto Sanchez

The TPS recipients are in a peculiarly difficult spot.

Facing a Congress that tends to respond to mass action and move only under deadline pressure, these workers must explain the why it is urgent for lawmakers to extend their protections now when the program is set to expire in 2019. The Salvadoran workers also must try to get their message out a time when DREAMers, the young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, are greater in number — an estimated 1.8 million compared to 200,000 for the TPS recipients — are facing a March 5 expiration date for their own program. There are an estimated 4,800 TPS recipients from El Salvador in Nevada.

Migrants from nine other countries that participate in the TPS program are also concerned, including Haitians, Hondurans and Nepalese, as well as migrants from three countries that previously participated, including Liberia. 

KQED: Employers, Immigrants Grapple With Uncertainty Over TPS Work Permits

By Farida Jhabvala Romero

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging the Trump administration to keep TPS for Hondurans and immigrants from other nations, saying businesses in the U.S. need a stable workforce.

Neil Bradley, the chamber’s executive vice president, wrote to the DHS that industries affected by the potential loss of TPS workers include construction, hospitality and food processing.

“The loss of employment authorization for these populations would adversely impact several key industries where TPS recipients make up a significant amount of the workforce,” Bradley said.

For more than 25 years, the U.S. government has granted TPS to people from countries devastated by natural disasters or wrecked by armed conflict. The program allows beneficiaries to work and live in the U.S. If the federal government deems these immigrants are not able to return safely to their nations of origin, the status is usually extended six to 18 months.

Westword: Coloradans With Temporary Protected Status Organize to Counter Trump

By Chris Walker

“I think for TPS holders, it’s even scarier than for the larger undocumented population,” says Jenn Piper, an organizer with the American Friends Service Committee. “The reason people were granted TPS in the first place is because their country is unsafe for them. So whether you’re talking about Syria — which actually is a war zone — or El Salvador, which has the same murder rate as a war zone, they’re not places that are able to reabsorb people economically, but even more importantly, there are much higher risks for violence and extortion. Folks aren’t only worried about the interruption of their lives here [in the United States], but also their physical safety if we get to the point of deportation.”