Campaign Action
Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda continues. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it will terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly 60,000 Hondurans by January 2020, which will force thousands to either go underground—there is no line for them to get into to adjust their status—or be deported back to the dangerous conditions they fled from in the first place:
Two weeks ago, the administration announced 9,000 Nepalese with similar protection must leave. In January, it canceled protection for 200,000 Salvadorans, notifying them to depart by September 2019. Last year, it decided that 45,000 Haitians must leave by July 2019 and 2,500 Nicaraguans must go by January of that year.
But of all these countries, Honduras is perhaps the most volatile. The Central American nation has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Irregularities in last November’s presidential election have led to massive street protests, which have turned violent.
“This can’t be,” Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo told the New York Times. Rosales-Fajardo runs an advocacy group in New Orleans, home to a significant population of Honduran immigrants. “They rebuilt our houses and the city after Hurricane Katrina,” she continued. “When nobody wanted to come, they were here bringing New Orleans back to life.”
As immigrant rights group America’s Voice notes, “TPS holders are among the most heavily vetted immigrants in the U.S. and are contributing, tax paying members of American society.” According to one analysis, high percentages of TPS recipients have had permission to live in the U.S. for as long as two decades. Now, this racist administration is set on upending them and their families.
“The Administration’s decision to end TPS for Honduras is heartless and malicious,” said America’s Voice founder Frank Sharry. “We are calling on Congress to pass legislation to keep Honduran TPS holders in the U.S. and to create a path to a permanent solution for TPS holders deeply rooted in American communities.”
“I did everything right,” Samuel Contreras, another TPS recipient, told the New York Times. “I worked hard, started a company, had two children and made investments here. The bank approved a $300,000 mortgage because I have good credit and income. Now I don’t know what will happen.”