El Salvador is looking to Haiti and Honduras to help develop a position to convince the United States Congress on the need to approve a means of permanent residence for all people currently benefiting from Temporary Protection Status (TPS).
The Foreign Minister of El Salvador, Hugo Martínez, who met with US lawmakers over the weekend to try and convince them to offer an alternative at the end of the TPS, said he has asked Honduras and Haiti to work together to try convincing the US Congress to approve a means of permanent residence for all people currently benefiting from TPS and who will be threatened by deportation in less than two years.
Seeking a solution
“The approach that we adopted in all the meetings concerned all the people covered by TPS. I sent a note to Honduras and Haiti to join their negotiations efforts in the Congress,” Martinez said, adding “we are looking for a solution that ensures the transition from temporary to permanent residence.”
The Donald Trump administration has already indicated it will not renew the TPS, leaving an estimated 195,000 Salvadorans, 50,000 Hondurans and 58,000 Haitians at risk of being expelled from the US in less than two years.
Must register for TPS
US Homeland Security has said that people who have been granted TPS and wish to maintain their TPS and receive TPS-based Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) valid through July 22, 2019, must re-register for TPS in accordance with the procedures set forth by Washington.
The 60-day re-registration period runs from January 18, 2018 through March 19, 2018. After July 22, 2019, nationals of Haiti, who have been granted TPS under the Haiti designation will no longer have TPS.
Extension allows for orderly transition
Last year, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke said then that the decision to terminate the TPS designation for Haiti with a delayed effective date of 18 months, was to allow for an orderly transition before the designation terminates on July 22, next year.
Homeland security said that the decision to terminate TPS for Haiti was made after a review of the conditions upon which the country’s original designation were based and whether those extraordinary but temporary conditions prevented Haiti from adequately handling the return of their nationals, as required by statute.
It said based on all available information, including recommendations received as part of an inter-agency consultation process, those extraordinary but temporary conditions caused by the 2010 earthquake no longer exist. Thus, under the applicable statute, the current TPS designation must be terminated.
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