The Department of Homeland Security is terminating immigration benefits for 2,500 Nicaraguans who were allowed to work in the U.S. under a provisional residency known as “Temporary Protected Status,” but is holding off to decide the future of the program for 57,000 Hondurans.
Nicaraguan TPS beneficiaries have 14 months to leave the U.S. or qualify to remain in the U.S. legally through a different visa category. Those who remain in the U.S. after Jan. 5, 2019, without obtaining another visa category, will revert to their previous immigration status.
Additionally, more information regarding the TPS designation for Honduras is required, meaning no decision has been made yet and the TPS designation for Honduras has been extended for another six months following a Jan. 5, 2018 expiration date.
Meanwhile, the DHS is approaching deadlines that would impact 200,000 Salvadoran and 50,000 Haitian TPS recipients, who will no longer be authorized to live in the U.S. legally beginning in early 2018.
Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deporting foreign nationals to insecure and dangerous countries as a result of natural disaster, armed conflict, or health epidemics.
However, the Trump administration is pushing back on the original purpose of the program and claim it was not intended to allow immigrants to stay in the U.S. long-term.
