RCUSA Denounces Trump Administration’s Termination of Protections for Salvadoran TPS Holders

RCUSA Denounces Trump Administration’s Termination of Protections for Salvadoran TPS Holders, Urges Congress to Pass Permanent, Legislative Solution

Washington, DC – Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) denounces the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate El Salvador’s designation for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), effective September 9, 2019.  We are against this action vis a vis TPS populations as it joins recently terminated TPS designations for Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan, as well as ended the Central American Minors (CAM) program that protected children fleeing violence in Central America and reunited them with their parents in the United States. Terminating TPS for El Salvador means expelling nearly 200,000 Salvadorans from their communities in which they have lived and worked for 17-years and separating them from their families, including their 192,000 U.S. citizen children.

Terminating TPS for El Salvador also undermines U.S. foreign policy, harms U.S. economic development, and exacerbates regional insecurity. Deporting hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans will drive further displacement, eliminate remittances that are critical to the Salvadoran economy, and inevitably have a devastating impact on the country’s recovery. Last week, nearly 400 faith leaders and faith groups signed a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to extend El Salvador’s TPS designation for at least another 18-months.

“With this ill-advised act, the Administration has again failed to uphold a cornerstone of U.S.-values:  Welcome and protection to vulnerable populations,” Hans Van de Weerd, Chair of RCUSA, and Vice President of US Programs at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), said today. “It is widely reported that country conditions in El Salvador do not allow for the safe return of 200,000 TPS holders, who would be at high risk of being subject to violent crime, human trafficking, and sexual violence if forcibly returned. RCUSA calls on DHS to reinstate El Salvador’s TPS designation and turns to Congress to pass a permanent, legislative solution to protect all long-time TPS holders, such as the Salvadorans.”

Contact: Danielle Grigsby, RCUSA Associate Director, dgrigsy@rcusa.org