The State Department told the Department of Homeland Security this week that a program protecting hundreds of thousands of Central Americans and Haitians from deportation should be nixed, reports the Washington Post. The program, known as Temporary Protection Status, shields more than 300,000 people currently living and working in the United States. But in a letter, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke that conditions in Central America and Haiti no longer justify the protection provided under the program. TPS was set up in 1990 to protect foreigners from being deported to countries hit by political instability or natural disasters.
By Monday, the Homeland Security has to decide the fate of about 57,000 Hondurans and 2,500 Nicaraguans whose protections will expire in January. Later this month, it will also have to decide the fate of around 50,000 Haitians who benefit from TPS. The Trump administration has long said the program was supposed to be temporary but has taken a semi-permanent status.
Some in the administration are even trying to suggest that getting rid of the program could actually benefit Central America and Haiti “because their citizens will return with job skills, democratic values and personal savings acquired from living long term in the United States,” notes the Post. The countries that could see an influx of arrivals disagree though. And some say that the move could hurt the U.S. economy. The Hispanic Caucus took to Twitter Friday night to point out that “ending TPS & deporting legal workers would cost the country ~ $164 billion in GDP over a decade.”
Nixing the program could also cause families to forcibly split as the Center for American Progress says TPS beneficiaries have almost 275,000 children who were born in the United States. Although there’s obviously no guarantee that all in the program would be deported right away, it would be very easy for law enforcement to find them as Homeland Security has all their personal details.
