Some 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants allowed to live and work in the US since 2001 will lose their right to remain in the country in 2019, officials said on Monday, marking the Trump administration's latest move to tighten immigration enforcement.
The US will end the Salvadorans' temporary protected status (TPS) on September 9, 2019, giving them 18 months to leave or seek lawful residency, and for El Salvador to prepare for their return, administration officials said. The status was granted in the wake of two devastating 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador that left hundreds of thousands in the country homeless.
The decision to end TPS for Salvadorans is part of the administration's broader push to tighten immigration laws and expel those living in the US illegally. The move was heavily criticized by immigrant advocates who said it ignored violence in El Salvador and gave the Salvadorans few options but to leave the US or remain illegally.
The Trump administration has faced a series of deadlines over the past year to decide whether to end the protected status of immigrants in the US whose home countries have been affected by disasters.
Salvadorans are by far the largest group under TPS, a program administration officials said is supposed to provide a temporary haven for victims, not a permanent right to remain in the US.
Critics have complained TPS has allowed participants to repeatedly extend their stays in 6-month to 18-month increments.
Patricia Hernandez, 53, arrived in the US in 2000 and applied for TPS after the 2001 earthquakes. She has lived in North Carolina for 18 years and runs a subcontracting construction business with her Honduran husband. The couple have two US-born teenage sons.
"This is a real blow for everyone," said Hernandez by telephone. "Most of us pay taxes, we're not living off the government, we're not criminals."
The family will move to Honduras with their children and the couple do not intend to return north, she said, though they worry about violence and political instability in central America.
(Agencies)