Campaign Action
Following the Trump administration’s announcement that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be terminated for Salvadorans by 2019, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton who represents Washington, D.C. has announced she will introduce legislation to protect the more than 200,000 TPS families facing possible deportation to El Salvador:
“Salvadorians with TPS, who have become integral to the nation, particularly to the D.C. region, have built strong families and are among the pillars of our regional economy,” Norton said. “Deporting tens of thousands of individuals to a country still grappling with widespread violence would tear families apart and do significant harm to our economy. Our bill to protect from deportation Salvadorians, who have lived here for nearly two decades, recognizes their long-term contributions to our region and the nation. Deporting Salvadorian TPS holders raises unique issues because they are the largest group of TPS residents and the large number of their children were born in this country. The termination of their status by the Trump administration was unnecessary and callous, but now Congress cannot avoid its responsibility to permanently resolve the status of these long-term contributing residents. I am seeking bipartisan support, particularly from the national capital region congressional delegation.”
According to the congresswoman’s office, “nearly 30,000 TPS recipients live in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, the largest concentration of Salvadorians in the nation. Norton’s bill would change the status of Salvadorian TPS holders to lawful permanent resident and allow them to apply for naturalization (citizenship) within five years. She is also a cosponsor of a bill to protect from deportation individuals who currently receive TPS and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) from a number of Central American and other countries, including El Salvador.”