With Donald Trump announcing the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 200,000 Salvadorans by 2019 and the Republican-led Congress so far holding zero floor votes on bipartisan legislation that would give them permanent legal status in the U.S., families are living in crisis. Nowhere is this more clear that in the greater Washington, D.C. area, home to the largest population of TPS recipients in the nation:
On Monday, the federal government said the protection will end in September 2019, sending waves of outrage and anxiety from Washington to Los Angeles and to the Central American nation itself.
In Bethesda, Md., a janitor at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center burst into tears. Before a news conference in Dallas, an advocate who has TPS took a moment to comfort his daughter, who is in the fifth grade and is worried that both of her parents will soon have to leave the United States.
At 15th and L streets NW in Washington, [Salvadoran TPS recipient Oscar] Cortez saw the news on his mobile phone while taking a break from laying copper pipe at the construction site of the new Fannie Mae headquarters.
“You feel like you’re up in the air,” the silver-haired 46-year-old said. “I feel bad and offended. They’re playing with our stability.”
These are not newcomers. These are not “moochers” (TPS recipients are ineligible for public benefits). Salvadoran TPS recipients have lived in the U.S. for an average of 21 years. These families have nearly 200,000 U.S. citizen kids. Eighty-eight percent are in the labor force and nearly one-third have a mortgage. These are people deeply engrained in their communities, and in one swift motion, their entire lives stand to get upended.
The rationale—if you can call it that—from the administration is that TPS recipients can return to their home countries due to improving conditions. But this isn’t so in El Salvador. The nation continues to be plagued by one of the worst murder rates in the world. Last year, the Trump administration even issued a travel advisory warning U.S. citizens about the area.
Now, they may be deporting families with U.S. citizen kids there:
Deportees are often targeted by gangs, because they believe they have money. Police also target them, because of the stigma that they are criminals.
"There's no work," [Salvadoran Immigrant Institute’s Cesar] Rios said. "Between 200 and 300 Salvadorans continue leaving every day for the United States."
Ernesto Godoy, standing outside a Western Union money transfer office in San Salvador, said he receives money from relatives with protected status in the United States. He worried the decision could lead to bigger problems in El Salvador.
"It's going to affect us, not only me, but on a national level, because here in El Salvador we make ends meet with remittances from the United States," Godoy said.
People are more than their contributions and occupations, but it’s also a fact that deporting hundreds of thousands of Salvadoran TPS workers will result in a $109.4 billion loss in GPD over the next decade. And while the Salvadoran TPS recipients have lived in the U.S. for an average of two decades, this temporary relief has been just that—temporary. There are little to no options for them to legalize their status unless Congress gives them a way to, and soon. Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas, Chairman of the Committee on Migration (USCCB/COM):
We renew our call to Congress to work in a bipartisan manner to find a legislative solution for long-term TPS recipients, and we stand ready to support such efforts. TPS recipients are an integral part of our communities, churches, and nation. Without action by Congress, however, recipients' lives will be upended and many families will be devastated. As with DACA, we strongly urge Congressional members and leadership to come together and address this issue as soon as possible.
To Salvadoran TPS recipients, we promise to continue to stand in solidarity with you and pray for you and your families, and all those who are displaced or forced to flee from their homes."
There is legislation waiting to protect them, but in a Republican-led Congress that continues to stall on legislation as publicly popular as the DREAM Act, TPS recipients remain in fear:
Labor leaders said Salvadorans with protected status mop floors in Washington museums and empty wastebaskets at the World Bank. They are also construction workers, business owners, managers and investors. A mass exodus would impact the D.C. workforce and economy, as well as the economy in El Salvador, where TPS holders send millions of dollars to family members each year.
“It is going to be devastating for us,” said Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D). “Whether it’s construction or the service industry, the impact it will have is just devastating.”