Here Legally Since 1999, Thousands of Immigrants Have 60 Days to Leave

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Now more than 50,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans stand to abruptly lose their legal status as the Trump administration seeks to end their protections, in place since the Clinton era, under the temporary protected status program, or TPS. Amid a broader campaign to crack down on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security said that because “conditions have improved” in Honduras and Nicaragua, it is ending the program for natives of those countries in early September.

The decision, announced in early July, has been met with outrage from immigrant communities across the country, prompting a lawsuit by the National TPS Alliance, an advocacy group, and seven impacted individuals. The parties allege that the decision violated federal law by “relying on a predetermined political decision” and “racial animus,” while ignoring “dire” local conditions in those countries. Immigration advocates hope federal courts will step in to intervene. {snip}

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President Bill Clinton established temporary protections for Hondurans and Nicaraguans after Hurricane Mitch devastated the Central American nations in 1998. Since then, the government has renewed the program every six to 18 months, but the Trump administration let it expire on July 5. The administration has also moved to revoke TPS for as many as 900,000 people from Haiti, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Cameroon and Nepal living in the United States, arguing that the programs for nationals of countries facing conflict and environmental disaster was always intended to be temporary.

Hondurans and Nicaraguans have had temporary protections for much longer — in some cases decades more — than immigrants of the other countries.

Nearly 27 years after Hurricane Mitch, “Honduran citizens can safely return home,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said in a statement about ending that country’s program. Of Nicaragua’s termination, a DHS spokesperson said the program “was never meant to last a quarter of a century.”

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The Trump administration’s termination of multiple humanitarian programs could strip 3 million immigrants of their status and work authorization, according to some immigration experts. About 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans have temporary protections, although roughly 22,100 of those have received green cards, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and therefore will be able to stay.

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