On Monday, the United States put an end to the Temporary Protection Statute (TPS) for some 200,000 Salvadorans, who have 18 months to find another way to regularize their situation or leave the country.
The TPS for Salvadorans had been adopted by the United States after the 2001 earthquake, but Secretary of Internal Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, believes that El Salvador now has the conditions to receive these people back.
Based on careful consideration of the available information (…) the Internal Security Secretariat determined that the original conditions caused by the 2001 earthquake no longer exist. [Therefore,] the current designation of TPS (for Salvadorans) must be extinct,”
said a senior official of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The same source pointed out that, in order to guarantee an orderly transition, the authorities determined a deadline until September 9th of next year.
With the non-renewal of temporary protection, Salvadoran citizens will return to the immigration status they had before the TPS, and therefore must leave the country or find another way to legally adjust their situation.
In this table, the situation remains in the hands of the US Congress, which in that 18-month period could define a formula for those people to renew their residence.
On November 7th, DHS decided not to renew the TPS for some 5,300 Nicaraguan citizens, protected in the United States since Hurricane Mitch devastated their country in October 1998. Soon after, on November 20th, DHS did the same with the protection for some 5,900 Haitians, mostly survivors of the 2010 earthquake. The government then decided to postpone the decision on the protection measures of some 86,000 Honduran citizens, until the authorities analyze whether the conditions are right for these people to return to their country, plagued by urban violence.
Several congressmen and women in the US believe these are cruel decisions made by a heartless ruler.