About 337,000 illegal migrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua have been living in the U.S. under the dubious classification of “Temporary Protected Status,” a misnamed policy that stretches the concept of “temporary” to its limits. The Trump administration attempted to end TPS for those illegals, opening the door for large-scale deportations. But first the courts and then the Biden administration intervened, and instead of their TPS status being eliminated, it is being extended, probably forever.
The extension, which is expected to be announced today, will officially allow existing TPS holders from those countries to continue living in the U.S. for another 18 months. The numbers by country break down as follows:
- 241,699 Salvadorans
- 76,737 Hondurans
- 14,556 Nepalis
- 4,250 Nicaraguans
As noted above, the term “temporary” is not to be taken very seriously. Many of these migrants, who are not legally entitled to hold a job and are not on a path to permanent residency, have been here for decades. Citizens of El Salvador, for example, were given TPS due to an earthquake in that country 22 years ago.
The program extension is in keeping with the open-borders policies of the current administration, which has used every means available to pack the country with the third world and has offered TPS in record numbers to nationals of 16 countries, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Venezuela, among others.
For more, see CBS News.