It wasn't clear whether TPS holders will need to renew their work permits before they expire in January, or if it will be automatically extended.
WASHINGTON
— El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said Monday the United States government
will extend temporary protected status for more than 200,000 Salvadorans living
in the U.S.
Bukele
posted a video to Twitter in which U.S. Ambassador Ronald Douglas Johnson said
the two countries have signed an agreement extending TPS for one year. The
usual renewals had been for 18 months.
The
program allows Salvadorans to stay in the U.S. and avoid deportation
proceedings, and allows them to get work permits.
“This is
recognition of the achievements and good work of the government of Nayib
Bukele,” Johnson said.
The
Department of Homeland Security had not made any announcement, so it wasn’t
clear whether TPS holders will need to renew their work permits before they
expire in January, or whether the documents will be extended automatically.
José
Palma, national coordinator for the TPS National Alliance, a group of TPS beneficiaries
from across the U.S., told reporters that the lack of details on the extension
could mean trouble for beneficiaries being able to keep their jobs.
“We need
to find a permanent solution. This temporary protection is great, but we also
understand this year will go by quickly,” he said.
The
Trump administration’s move to end TPS for El Salvador and several other
countries had been enjoined by a federal judge.
In
September, El Salvador agreed to work with the U.S. to limit migration crossing
its borders and accept asylum seekers who tried to reach the U.S. border.
Kerri
Talbot, director of federal advocacy at the organization Immigration Hub, said
it is “absurd” for the Trump administration to “say people can claim asylum in
El Salvador but on the other hand people can stay in the United States because
it is too dangerous to go back.”
Bukele
had faced domestic criticism when his government signed the immigration
agreement with the U.S. Critics thought he had failed to get the coveted TPS
extension in return.
Bukele
tweeted Monday, “They said it was impossible.”
“We
didn’t want to share it earlier because it could have hindered talks,” he
wrote.
Salvadoran
citizens were originally granted TPS in 2001 following earthquakes in 2001.
El
Salvador had been worried about potentially having to absorb thousands of
citizens who had made lives for themselves in the U.S.
Deportees
are often stigmatized in El Salvador — people think they must have done
something wrong to get deported — and find it more difficult to find work and
re-establish themselves in their native countries.