“By definition TPS is temporary,” the former Homeland Security chief, John F. Kelly, warned last summer. “It’s not meant to be forever.”
On Monday the Trump administration made good on that definition. The Department of Homeland Security announced it would end Temporary Protected Status for Salvadoran nationals, by far the largest recipient group of the program.
TPS, as it is known, is a band-aid immigration policy that has been repeatedly renewed over the years for certain national groups, as Congress remains unable to reach a deal on much-needed immigration reform. A majority of the American population wants reform that would legalize most of those who are currently here without full authorization, poll after poll in recent years have shown.
Monday’s decision throws the lives of about 190,000 Salvadorans in the States into uncertainty. Advocates are now pushing for a congressional route to re-protecting Salvadoran immigrants from deportation: