Washington, DC – The Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) condemns the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end TPS for Nicaraguans and provide only a 6-month extension for Hondurans. This action runs counter to the well-documented reports of precarious conditions in these countries, including escalating violence, deep poverty, compromised infrastructure, and vulnerability to natural disasters that continues to drive tens of thousands of women, children, and families to flee their homes.
Instead of reflecting the tenuous and complex economic, social and political realities in each of these nations, the cancellation of TPS for Nicaraguans and a mere 6-month extension for Hondurans simply demonstrates this Administration’s xenophobic agenda and lack of commitment to protect immigrants and people of color, as evidenced by his Executive Orders, Tweets, advisors and his legislative agenda.
There is a human cost to ending TPS, affecting families, neighbors, friends, parishioners, and entire communities. Ending TPS will impact hard-working people like Karla, who moved to the US at age 9 from El Salvador. Karla, her aunt, and her younger brother (only 4 years old at the time) made the journey in 1998 to reunite with their mother in Philadelphia, who came a few months prior to work to give her children a better life. Because of TPS, Karla and her family received a protective status and could pursue her dream of attending nursing school. Karla is now the Lead Nurse for the Philadelphia area’s largest home care facility, and ending TPS would separate Karla from her family and squash her future ambitions.
CARECEN stands with the community of TPS holders and will fight to ensure they can remain in the US with their families. Collectively, the organization is working with local partners to develop strategies to help TPS beneficiaries keep the assets they have worked so hard to acquire in the last 20+ years. CARECEN will also work through all available legal channels to seek individual protections for TPS holders. Like the recent resolution passed by the DC Council on DACA and TPS, CARECEN will partner with other local leaders to establish policies and resolutions to protect TPS beneficiaries and their families.
