Editor’s note: The opinions below are the author’s, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
By Barbara Franz
In January 2019, the Trump administration will end a special status that has protected 2,500 Nicaraguans from deportation: Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
TPS was granted to Nicaraguans who resided in the United States when Hurricane Mitch devastated large stretches of Central America in 1999.
The Secretary of Homeland Security may grant this status to citizens from designated nations who are unable to return to their countries because of armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.
In order to receive TPS, applicants must prove they have lived continuously in the United States and must undergo a criminal and security background check to confirm they have not been convicted of a felony, or two or more misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security.
TPS holders must reapply and undergo background checks every six to 18 months when the designation is renewed, paying fees each time.
Individuals who are granted TPS receive a work permit and time-limited protection from deportation. While TPS enables recipients to contribute to, and integrate into, the United States’ economic, social, and civic spheres, it falls short of providing recipients with a pathway to permanent legal status in the country.
In 2017, an estimated 325,000 migrants from 10 TPS-designated countries are residing in the United States. It has been a lifeline to individuals already in the United States when problems in a home country suddenly make their departure or deportation untenable.
On January 5, 2019, Nicaraguans who have lived for 20 or more years in the USA will lose their legal status. After that date they will be subject to ICE removal.
But this might just be the beginning. Hondurans also were granted TPS in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch.
However, the Department of Homeland Security claims it needs more time to assess the post-hurricane conditions there to determine whether protected status will continue for the 57,000 Hondurans currently living in the United States under the program.
So TPS for Hondurans will be extended for six months through July 5, 2018. Other nationalities covered by TPS include about 200,000 Salvadorans, whose status is scheduled to end on March 9, 2018, and 50,000 Haitians, who were granted TPS after the 2010 earthquake.
TPS for Haitian citizens is scheduled to end on Jan. 22, 2018. Decisions on their fate are expected to be announced by the administration in coming weeks. Recipients cumulatively have remitted substantial funds to their countries of origin during this time; the extensions might depend in part on the pleading by their countries’ diplomatic corps.
Deporting more than 320,000 former TPS recipients is a costly and bad idea. According to a study by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, it would reduce the U.S. gross domestic product by $45.2 billion over the next decade. The deportation itself would cost U.S. taxpayers $3.1 billion. Because TPS recipients are eligible to work and therefore pay taxes, by ending their status, the Social Security and Medicare systems would lose their projected $6.9 billion net payments.
The evidence strongly suggests that TPS recipients make very valuable contributions to the United States and the communities in which they reside.
Reneging on a promise of safety and security to vulnerable people as a means to curtail immigration would be negligent and irresponsible.
Removing the parents of nearly 275,000 U.S.-born children is needlessly cruel.
Deporting people who have been an integral part of the American economy for decades (TPS beneficiaries have on average a higher employment rate than American citizens) is destructive and idiotic.
Barbara Franz, Ph.D., is a political science professor at Rider University, and a Morristown resident.
MORRISTOWN GREEN COVERAGE OF TPS
