Temporary Protected Status

Trump Administration Tells 200,000 Salvadorans To Leave Or Get Deported

WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration will tell about 200,000 Salvadorans who have been living in the U.S. for 17 years or more that they need to get out by September 2019 or face deportation.

The Department of Homeland Security’s announcement on Monday that the administration will end temporary protected status, or TPS, for natives of El Salvador, comes after it did the same for about 50,000 Haitians and 2,500 Nicaraguans, and hinted it may soon eliminate protections for about 57,000 Hondurans. It also comes after President Donald Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which granted deportation relief and work permits to nearly 700,000 current recipients.

That means nearly 1 million people currently allowed to live and work in the U.S. will soon be at risk of deportation unless they can find another way to gain legal status.

The Trump administration has indicated for months that it believes the “temporary” in “temporary protected status” has been wrongly overlooked for too long.

TPS for Salvadorans was first established in 2001 after earthquakes devastated the country. Only individuals who could show they had lived in the U.S. since before February 2001 can receive TPS, which allows them to work and live without fear of removal. Congressional Research Service puts the number of Salvadoran TPS recipients at about 260,000, but other experts say it is closer to 200,000 because some have gotten other immigration relief or left the country.