Catholic Partners Urge DHS to Extend Temporary Protected Status for Honduras and El Salvador

WASHINGTON—OnOctober 30, 2017, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Chairman of the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Migration, joinedrepresentatives of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Catholic Legal ImmigrationNetwork, Inc. (CLINIC), and Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) in sending a letterto Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Elaine Duke, urging an 18-month extensionof Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras and El Salvador.

TPS is a temporary, renewable, andstatutorily authorized immigration status that allows individuals to remain andwork lawfully in the U.S. during a period in which it is deemed unsafe fornationals of that country to return home.

The current designation for bothcountries is set to expire shortly, but, as noted by the letter's signatories,"[t]erminating TPS at this time would be inhumane and untenable." In theletter, the partners shared insights from the recent USCCB/Migration andRefugee Services (MRS) delegation trip to El Salvador and Honduras, and Catholicpartners' work in the region and with affected communities in the U.S., whenexplaining that the countries are not currently in a position to adequatelyhandle return of their nationals who have TPS.

As discussed in the USCCB/MRS tripreport, Temporary ProtectedStatus: A Vital Piece of the Central American Protection and Prosperity Puzzle, an extension of TPS for both countries iscrucial for humanitarian, regional security, and economic stability reasons. Consequently,the partners urged Secretary Duke to extend TPS for Honduras and El Salvadoruntil individuals can return and reintegrate into their countries safely. Theyalso reiterated the Church's commitment to "stand ready to support measures toprotect the well-being and dignity of Honduran and Salvadoran families as thetwo countries are on the path to reform, addressing citizen security andbuilding protection infrastructure."

Read the full letter here: https://justiceforimmigrants.org/news/catholic-partner-letter-dhs-requesting-extension-temporary-protected-status/.

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Keywords: U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops, USCCB, Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, Committee on Migration,Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.(CLINIC), Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), Homeland Security, Elaine Duke,Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Honduras, El Salvador, citizen security,families.

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