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Donald Trump administration has left Temporary Protected Status in place for about 200,000 Salvadorans for now, after a deadline to decide their fate passed without any public announcement. Homeland Security said on Thursday, as it had on Wednesday, that it would make an announcement "at an appropriate time" and that TPS for El Salvador would stay in effect until then, PBS NewsHour reported. The administration has not said whether it will let the protections lapse, putting El Salvador on a different track, The Hill reported, from the 13 other countries whose TPS the department has ended.
Is this an extension? Ben Johnson, who directs the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said in a social media post on Wednesday that "this is not an official extension or decision by DHS as to the fate of TPS for El Salvador," and that the administration was leaving TPS holders, their families and their employers in limbo. Some attorneys cautioned that the administration could eliminate the protections without a public statement, or announce a decision at any time, PBS NewsHour reported. Under immigration law, the status is automatically extended for six months if the government takes no action, and El Salvador's last 18-month extension expired Sept. 9.
Who makes the decision? Tom Homan, Trump's "border czar" who has advocated ending TPS, said on Tuesday that the decision rests with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "Temporary protected status means temporary," Homan said. In Trump's second term, the department has ended TPS for more than 1 million people, and the Supreme Court ruled in June that the administration acted within its authority in ending it for about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians.
Who is affected? "Facing this uncertainty is frustrating and painful," said Doris Landaverde, 47, who obtained TPS months after crossing the U.S. border illegally in December 2000 and has worked legally since, mostly cleaning at Harvard University. The single mother of two U.S.-born daughters said she could lose her job without it. "We have lived here legally for decades, and that is hard to erase," she said.
What is at stake for El Salvador? Salvadorans in the U.S. sent home $9.9 billion in remittances last year, 24% of El Salvador's gross domestic product, the country's central bank said. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has supported Trump's deportation campaign and asked Trump to extend TPS in 2019, but has not said publicly whether he has requested another extension, PBS NewsHour reported.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
