It’s the biggest push yet in Trump’s war on humanitarian immigration.
Yesterday it was announced that a decision would come today or Tuesday. This morning the press conference was held and the was announced that TPS has been CANCELED for El Salvador.
This decision came with an 18-month extension. More than 262,000 under TPS status Salvadorans will now be forced to leave and have until Sept. 9, 2019 to leave the U.S. or find a new way to obtain legal residency.
TPS holders from El Salvador, the largest TPS population, have 194,000 U.S born children ending TPS protections will separate hundreds of thousands from their families
The decision to cancel TPS for Salvadorans is part of a broader campaign targeting the program, which previously included the end of protections for tens of thousands of citizens from Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan currently living in the U.S.
“Salvadoran officials, including President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, appealed to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen as recently as last week not to go through with the decision, arguing that it would wreak havoc on El Salvador’s economy. The tiny Central American nation relies heavily on remittance payments sent from Salvadorans living in the U.S. to their family members back home.” (source)
“In Monday’s call with reporters, the Trump administration official was explicit in saying that violence and instability in El Salvador was not part of the calculus in deciding to end TPS — it was earthquake recovery and earthquake recovery alone. ‘Anything else doesn’t really apply,’ the official said. When asked if it was the administration’s position that families with mixed citizenship status should expect to return to a country frequently called the murder capital of the world, the official had no advice: ‘We’re not getting involved in individual family decisions.’“ (source)
If you’d like to find out ways to help, find more information, and keep up on any news regarding this decision follow the TPS Alliance twitter account, the CARECEN twitter account, CARECEN’s website, visit the Save TPS website, and follow the SaveTPS hashtag.
There will be a national day of action on January 13th to support the TPS community. In Los Angeles, the rally will be at 2pm at Placita Olvera followed by a march to Metropolitan Detention Center. Check your area to see if there are marches in your area.
You can also contact CARECEN or keep an eye out on their twitter if they will be holding more conferences to help answer legal questions and providing TPS holders with the information they need.
