The Trump administration has put an end to the Temporary Protected Status of 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador, reports The New York Times. Since massive earthquakes devastated the country back in 2001, past administrations have granted people to legally live in the U.S. through the program. Now, those who were recipients of the program have 18 months to leave the country or face deportation.
Salvadorans make up the largest population of people that benefit from the temporary protected status, which kept them from facing deportation if they arrived in the U.S. illegally. Haitians have lost their protected status, which was granted to about 60,000 people since the devastating 2010 earthquake that struck their country.
Additionally, it’s been speculated that Hondurans are slated to lose their TPS benefits as well; people from Nicaragua have lost their status benefits reportedly last year. The Department of Homeland Security said it decided to end the TPS benefits from Salvadorans because the conditions that were present since the earthquake no longer affect the living conditions of people.
“Based on careful consideration of available information,” the department stated, “the secretary determined that the original conditions caused by the 2001 earthquakes no longer exist. Thus, under the applicable statute, the current T.P.S. designation must be terminated.”
According to the Times, the ending of protection for Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Salvadorans leave only 100,000 people who benefit from the program, which was established in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush.
This, of course, marks another divisive tact by President Trump in an effort to put a strict regime on immigration. Last year in September, he placed the future of 800,000 dreamers who benefit from DACA in the hands of Congress. Potentially, 800,000 young adults may lose their privilege to live and legally work in the U.S.
Nonetheless, the removal of TPS from Salvadorans is sure to divide families that have already made the U.S. their home. Here’s how some reacted to the news on Twitter:
Heartless. This would send countless people back to the life-threatening violence that plagues El Salvador and sends a message that refugees fleeing it—or the natural disasters that forced them from their homes—aren’t welcome in this safe harbor. https://t.co/obmIE2Rurp
— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) January 8, 2018
From Haiti to El Salvador to Nicaragua the US is sending people back to countries plagued with violence, poverty, & political turmoil that it helped to create in the first place. There is no way to disentangle the conditions of the Global South from decades of US policy.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) January 9, 2018
Lemme put it in context: TPS was set up for El Salvador after the Civil War and the Earthquakes in 2001 right? So its been years and things should be cooled down right?
Except gang violence is Horrible there.
Except my brother in law’s family was kicked out of the home they— 💀 #gaysforKravitz 💀 @ KatsuCrunch (@soleilofylisse) January 9, 2018