Within the next year, a 23-year-old woman could see her immediate family disintegrate if the U.S. government rescinds a special protection status for Honduran citizens in the country.
Seven of her relatives — including her mother, stepfather, and sister — will face possible deportation to Honduras, or may leave on their own, pending the outcome of the Trump administration's decision on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the Central American country.
“My sister is who I’m most worried about,” says the Honduran-American woman, who did not want her name used. She is the youngest in a family of four siblings, and the only one who was born in the United States. If her family returns to Honduras, she will suddenly become a stand-in parent, too.
“If they go, I will have to move in with two little American cousins of mine and assume the role of their caretaker,” she said. “This is what I know of our plans so far.”
Decision delayed for Hondurans
Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said it would terminate the status for some 2,500 Nicaraguans in January 2019, making those recipients subject to deportation proceedings unless they find another immigration solution. But the agency deferred the decision for 57,000 Hondurans, extending the Jan. 5, 2018 expiration date by six months.
“In the coming months, I will seek additional information and thoroughly review the country conditions of Honduras. If I determine country conditions no longer warrant a continued designation, I will terminate the designation,” Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke wrote in a memo to the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday.
More countries are involved
Duke may not be the one to make the final decision on Honduras or any of the upcoming TPS countries with expiration dates in 2018. In October, President Trump nominated White House Deputy Chief of Staff Kirstjen Nielsen for the cabinet position of Secretary of Homeland Security. The position requires Senate confirmation, and her nomination hearing is scheduled for Nov. 8.
TPS was issued for several countries in the wake of natural disasters or intense conflicts. It gave citizens of those countries present in the U.S. legal status and work authorization, if they met certain criteria and passed a criminal background check. But TPS provided no path to permanent residency or citizenship.
For Hondurans, Salvadorans, and citizens of the other seven TPS designated countries — once the TPS designation is removed, they will have to apply for another immigrant status, leave the country or risk deportation. For Nicaraguans, that day will be Jan. 5, 2019.
What to expect
So what will happen the day they are no longer protected?
“The individual returns to the immigration status they had prior to TPS if it remains valid,” explains Royce Bernstein Murray, Policy Director at the American Immigration Council. “For most of these people as a practical matter, that means they will be undocumented.”
They may not be targeted for removal just because their TPS status expired, “but they could certainly be picked up as collateral arrests,” says Murray. Most at risk, she believes, will be TPS recipients who had final removal orders — one of the last administrative steps before deportation — before receiving TPS status.
“If and when TPS ends, individuals who have final removal orders are indeed enforcement targets for fugitive operations … we could very quickly see TPS beneficiaries swept up in these enforcement dragnets,” says Murray.
