Contact:
Daniella Burgi-Palomino, Senior Associate
(202) 546 7010 | dburgipalomino@lawg.org
March 4, 2018
Latest TPS Decision Leaves Hondurans, Salvadorans, Haitians and Nicaraguans between a Wall and a Dangerous Place
Washington D.C.—The Latin America Working Group strongly opposes the latest Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 57,000 Hondurans; adding to the 195,000 Salvadorans, 46,000 Haitians, and 2,500 Nicaraguans who have also had their status terminated in the last year.
This decision places over 300,000 individuals who have been living and working in the United States for decades with an inhumane choice—to continue to reside in the U.S. without legal status or to be forcibly returned to a country they likely no longer know. This decision also fails to acknowledge the situation of insecurity, corruption, and impunity in Honduras and El Salvador which LAWG has documented and which justified an extension of TPS for Hondurans and Salvadorans. It also ignores several bipartisan statements of support from members of Congress calling for the extension of TPS.
“Today’s decision to terminate TPS for Hondurans alongside previous terminations for Haitians, Salvadorans, and Nicaraguans, demonstrates a continuation of the Administration’s string of senseless, xenophobic attacks on members of our communities here and our Latin American neighbors. It places these individuals and families between a wall and a dangerous place.” states Daniella Burgi-Palomino, LAWG’s Senior Associate for Mexico, Migrant Rights and Border Issues.
“Recent contested presidential elections in Honduras in November and the brutal repression that followed have exacerbated a vicious cycle of poverty, corruption, and spiraling violence—making it even clearer that Honduras is not a place migrants can return to, rather it’s one they’re fleeing from. Congress should pass legislation to protect TPS beneficiaries immediately so that these members of our communities don’t have to face the threat of deportation.” states Executive Director, Lisa Haugaard.
At the beginning of 2019, Nicaraguans will lose their protection under the TPS program and will face no other option but to live in the shadows in the United States and the threat of deportation. Haitians, Salvadorans, and Hondurans would face the same fate during the second half of 2019 and beginning of 2020. LAWG urges Congress to act quickly and pass legislation that would grant legal permanent residence status to the over 300,000 TPS beneficiaries from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Haiti. We stand by TPSianos and will continue to fight for their protection.
