In September, a group of immigrants who enjoy Temporary Protected Status joined forces to embark on a national tour. The effort represents a push back against efforts to end the program that offers TPS for hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the United States. Immigrant communities in Texas may be closely watching the tour develop.
TPS is a program that became part of immigration law in 19 60+ . The program allows immigrants who have experienced “extraordinary circumstances” like political persecution, civil strife or a natural disaster in their countries of birth to reside in the United States without fear of deportation. Groups that benefited from this policy include individuals from Central America who endured Hurricane Mitch in 1999 and Haitian immigrants who survived the earthquake that the country experienced in 2010.
Presidential administrations in the past have extended the TPS program each time it neared its end. However, President Trump began to dismantle the program shortly after he took over as the 45th president of the United States in 2017. Immigrants from Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sudan and Nepal have been affected the most by the president’s policy.
The Trump Administration makes the case that the countries experiencing instability have now recovered. The president also expresses the belief that many of the extensions provided by his predecessors were unnecessary.
The immigrant group’s tour began in Pasadena, California, a few steps from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The location choice stems from the fact that three judges working for the court gave the Trump Administration the go-ahead to bring the program to an end.
The complex network of rules and regulations that make up immigration law in the United States can be quite a task for immigrant families to navigate on their own. This becomes much more difficult when considering the constant state of change that affects these laws. Individuals with questions regarding the path to residency and citizenship may benefit from the help of an immigration attorney.
