Donald Trump adds another country to his unwelcome list, El Salvador. The Associated Press reports “The Trump administration is ending special protections for Salvadoran immigrants, forcing nearly 200,000 to leave the country or face deportation, officials said Monday.”
Back in 2001, after earthquakes ravaged El Salvador, the State Department granted Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to thousands of Salvadorans who migrated to the United States. For the past 17 years, they have lived, started businesses, and raised families here. Now, those under TPS have until next year to leave and return to a country many won’t recognize. El Salvador has been called the most violent country in the world and its capital city, San Salvador, has been known as the world’s most homicidal city.
Reaction to this decision is flowing in from both sides of the aisle.
A few months ago I wrote about a Senate cafeteria worker who is DACA. Her husband is Salvadoran TPS. These are people who literally clean up after the politicians who will have them deported. https://t.co/sZjHy2CiQ3
— Dave Jamieson, LLC (@jamieson) January 8, 2018
I was a high school teacher at a school where hundreds of Salvadorian students were here under TPS. These are kids who have lived in the US since they were three or four years old & who are now being told to go back to a country they don’t know.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) January 8, 2018
It is unconscionable that @POTUS would terminate the much needed #TPS status of more than 200,000 people from #ElSalvador who have been here for years, working legally + sending remittances to their families https://t.co/zQbliOPwmU
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) January 8, 2018
The whitening continues apace. El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates on earth. Forcing 262,000 people who have had legal refuge here, some since 1990, to return for no good reason is utterly heartless. But that’s just Monday at the @WhiteHouse. https://t.co/laLHLQtgSr
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) January 8, 2018
Here's just ONE story about how #TPS decision affects Salvadorans:
Jose, 23, has DACA. He's fighting #cancer with insurance provided through his mom's employer. She has TPS. If she loses TPS, she loses her job—and Jose loses his healthcare. https://t.co/YP1QWXkF6n pic.twitter.com/G8Wn8P3qaC— Jorge Rivas (@thisisjorge) January 8, 2018
