Nearly 200,000 people from El Salvador who have been allowed to live in the United States for more than a decade must leave the country, government officials announced Monday. It is the White House administration’s latest reversal of years of immigration policies and one of the most consequential to date.
In 2001, the tiny nation of El Salvador was rocked by a 7.9 earthquake that devastated the area known as San Miguel and then a 6.6 that hit the capital city of San Salvador. The areas were so thoroughly devastated that the Bush administration granted temporary amnesty to immigrants who migrated to the US to escape the devastated area.
What is Temporary Protected Status
The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allows the citizens of El Salvador to legally find work ans take advantage of all the liberties enjoyed by our country’s citizens.
Unfortunately, the limitations on the word temporary were never defined. Now the president’s administration has decided that 16 years in this country is long enough.
Most of the devastation caused by the 2001 earthquakes have been repaired by now, which gives teeth to the president’s efforts. However, this administration seems to have forgotten about the intangible effects of deporting 20,000 people. Some of these people have had children an built live in the US. Some of them have even become pillars in the communities in which they live. However, the TPS was meant to grant amnesty for temporary amount of time and these individuals were given more time in the US than the 45,000 Haitian citizens that had their TPS status revoked. The Haitians had been here since the earthquake of 2010, and now they’re expected to return home.
“Based on careful consideration of available information,” the department said in a statement, “the secretary determined that the original conditions caused by the 2001 earthquakes no longer exist. Thus, under the applicable statute, the current T.P.S. designation must be terminated.”
The El Salvadorians will be given until September of 2019 to get their affairs in order. Unfortunately, this might mean withdrawing their children form public school and shutting down their businesses. Hopefully, the communities in which they live can adjust to a sudden vacuum created by the departure of thousands of people.
I am a TPS Recipient. What Should I do?
Believe it or not, there are solutions. Speak with our TPS immigration attorneys today and schedule a consultation so your direct situation could be determined. We have offices in Gwinnett, Atlanta and Austell, GA.
