300,000 immigrants from El Salvador are set to lose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2019 and church groups want action now to prevent deportations. TPS is a program used by the Department of Homeland Security for citizens who come from countries deemed too unstable for them to safely return to, either because of natural disasters or extreme violence.
Immigrants from El Salvador were given this status in 2001, but Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of the DHS, has terminated it, deciding that people are now safe to return to the country. The return date was delayed until September 2019 to give everyone time to act on the decision, including giving Congress the chance to find a more permanent solution and allow such immigrants the chance to find another way to stay in the US.
This week, a two-day event is being hosted, with the public invited, on the issue of TPS by Omaha Together One Community (OTOC), which will be tied to a nationwide immigrant bus tour in a bid to try and drum up support for action on a permanent solution by Congress.
The group is supporting a new bill that has been co-sponsored by Nebraska Representative, Don Bacon, to offer permanent residency to TPS recipients from Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras. Critics argue that TPS was never intended to be permanent, but Kathleen Grant from OTOC says the immigrants are now part of the nation’s communities.