In limbo: Nevada Salvadorans with TPS protections await DHS decision

Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status in Nevada, some of whom have called the U.S. home for a quarter-century, don’t know how long they’ll be able to legally remain in the country.

The future of about 170,000 of them nationwide was thrown into limbo after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not announce a decision to extend or terminate El Salvador’s TPS designation before the designation’s scheduled Sept. 9 end date. If DHS takes no action, protections are automatically extended for six months.

More than 5,800 TPS recipients live in the Silver State, most of whom were born in El Salvador, said U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

Asked Wednesday about the future of TPS for El Salvador, a DHS spokesperson shared a statement that has been posted on the agency’s website.

“An announcement on El Salvador’s TPS will be made at the appropriate time,” the statement says. “Until such announcement is made, Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection.”

TPS for Salvadoran nationals was established in 2001 after two earthquakes devastated the country. Every renewal period, recipients pay a fee and undergo background checks.

Congress created the program in 1990 to allow eligible foreign nationals to live and work temporarily in the United States when conditions in their countries prevent their safe return, including violence, civil unrest or natural disasters. The designation can be granted in intervals of six, 12 or 18 months.

Contributions from TPS recipients

Cortez Masto noted that Republican and Democratic administrations have extended the designation for Salvadoran recipients more than 10 times.

“Every single Salvadoran TPS holder has been in this country for at least 25 years, and over the last two-and-a-half decades, Salvadorans with TPS have made their homes here,” she told reporters earlier this month, days before the Sept. 9 deadline. “They’ve started businesses, they’ve raised families, they’ve contributed to our economy across the United States.”

Cortez Masto said the population contributes $5 billion annually to the U.S. economy, paying about $1.5 billion in taxes. She remained uncertain last week on what would happen next, with her office saying Wednesday that she would continue to push for the Trump administration to extend the designation.

“The Department of Homeland Security has still not made it clear whether there is a plan to extend TPS for El Salvador or not, leaving Salvadoran TPS holders in limbo,” wrote the senator’s deputy communications director Arturo Gutierrez in a statement to the Review-Journal. “These are hardworking, law-abiding individuals who deserve certainty and who play an important role in Nevada’s economy.”

Cortez Masto had called for an extension while Congress finds a permanent solution. She’s introduced bills that seek to do that.

“I would ask for a year or two years for that extension, so that our TPS recipients can stay here, and we can help them work towards a path of permanent citizenship,” she said. “But in the meantime, let’s keep them here in our communities where they are our neighbors, our friends, our families.”

President Donald Trump’s DHS has moved to swiftly terminate TPS designations for 13 of the 17 countries since he took the White House for a second term. The Supreme Court this summer affirmed the program’s termination for 350,000 migrants from Haiti and 6,000 from Syria.

Reaction from critics

Critics of the program have pointed to the “T” in the acronym.

“It’s supposed to be a temporary stopgap program, and it’s turned into a permanent immigration program because it keeps getting renewed over and over again. And so it’s imperative that the president restore the temporariness of it,” Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Review-Journal.

The center advocates for immigration restrictions.

Noting that he had no insider knowledge, Krikorian theorized that the White House may have interfered with the TPS designation for El Salvador due to a possible deal with that country.

“I know for a fact that this is not a question of somebody forgetting to file the paperwork or incompetence on the part of DHS,” he said. “DHS had all its ducks in a row.”

The White House did not comment on the claim. Politico also reported last week that advocates for stricter immigration enforcement speculated that the delay could be linked to lobbying by El Salvador.

Krikorian said he wants TPS to end altogether, but would theoretically consider a compromise to get it done through Congress.

“I think there’s a case to be made for amnestying long-term TPS holders in exchange for getting rid of TPS in the future so that you don’t have this situation again,” he said. “Simply granting green cards to TPS holders is a non-starter because you’re just going to end up with more TPS people in the future.”

He said he would want that change to be permanent.

‘Not just coworkers’

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge spoke alongside Cortez Masto earlier this month.

He said thousands of union members are TPS recipients in danger of losing protections.

“A year ago, there were 1.1 million TPS holders in the U.S. and TPS has been terminated for over 800,000 folks,” he noted. “So that means overnight, those folks are now undocumented.”

Pappageorge said that the TPS population is critical to the local economy.

Robert Fuentes, with the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 13 Nevada union, said Salvadorans have helped build Las Vegas.

“They are not just workers; they are co-workers, our friends, our neighbors, and members of our union,” he said. “If TPS ends, families could be separated, and Nevada could lose skilled workers who help build our homes, schools, businesses, and roads.”