HIAS Outraged by Reports of Temporary Protected Status Termination

SILVER SPRING, Md.—In response to media reports that the State Department has determined that the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) determination is no longer needed for nationals of El Salvador, Haití, Honduras, and Nicaragua, Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees, issued the following statement:

“HIAS calls on Congress to act now and prevent the administration’s latest attempt to mistreat and intimidate non-citizens in need of refuge and who have become integral to the fabric of American society. TPS holders have lived, worked, and paid taxes here for decades. Many have children that are U.S. citizens. The United States of America gave them protection, which the administration now intends to take away. If the administration's decision moves forward, families will be torn apart and individuals will be forced to return to dangerous places which most of their children have never even seen. We, as a country, are so much better than this."

TPS is a temporary visa program that allows U.S. resident foreign nationals to remain and work in the United States if their home countries are afflicted by acute and temporary natural disasters or armed conflict. 330,000 TPS holders from ten countries are currently in the United States. The termination of TPS for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua would threaten the legal status of nearly 305,000 people.

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