Trump might send 60,000 Hondurans back home - and it could backfire, officials say
Trump might send 60,000 Hondurans back home - and it could backfire, officials say
TEGUCIGALPA
With the Trump administration set to decide next month whether to renew Temporary Protected Status for nearly 60,000 Hondurans — potentially sending them back to a country they barely know — government leaders and citizens in the Central American country worry the move could worsen economic and food insecurity problems, and even prompt some immigrants to return to the U.S. illegally.
The U.S. granted Hondurans the special immigration status in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch, allowing them to stay in the country without fear of deportation as long as the designation continued. TPS grants immigrants legal status in the U.S. —they can work and must pay taxes — because of conditions in their home country, such as civil war or natural disaster. Since the hurricane, the U.S. has renewed TPS for Hondurans 13 times.
The Trump administration has said it may revoke TPS for some countries, affecting as many as 300,000 people from the Western Hemisphere. In addition to Honduras, it currently extends to Haitians, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, among others.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has called on the Trump administration to continue TPS for the “honest” and “hardworking” Hondurans in the U.S. The U.S. is expected to make a TPS decision for Honduras in early November, 60 days before the current Jan. 5 expiration.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article180679161.html
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