The failure of President Donald Trump’s administration to extend the the Temporary Protected Status (‘TPS’) programme yesterday means 200,000 people from El Salvador must leave the United States within 18 months or change their immigration status according to the US Department of Homeland Security (‘DHS’). TPS has, since 1990, offered deportation relief to people from regions experiencing armed conflict and natural disasters. Salvadorans have been protected from deportation since the country, already suffering the effect of war, was hit by two devastating earthquakes in 2001. The reason given by the DHS for the cancellation of the TPS for Salvadorans was because the dangerous conditions created by the earthquakes, which killed more than 1,000 people, no longer exist. Thousands of Salvadorans however have settled in the US in the intervening years, married US citizens, built businesses and started families. Many have children with US citizenship. According to a 2017 report by the Center for Migration Studies, 51% of Salvadorans with TPS have lived in the US for more than 20 years and 34% have homes with mortgages. They live mostly in California, Texas, New York and Washington DC. The DHS acknowledged some TPS recipients have lived and worked in the US for many years but said only Congress could create a pathway to lawful immigration status for the population. Salvadorans with TPS have until 9 September 2019 to leave the US or change their status.
