Some 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador have been allowed to live and work in the United States since 2001, leaving them with the right to remain in the country next year, officials said on Monday (January 8th) in the latest move by the US administration to curb immigration.
Reuters quoted US officials as saying the United States would end the temporary protection status for El Salvador’s citizens on September 9, 2019, giving them 18 months to leave the country or apply for legal residency and give El Salvador the chance to prepare for their return.
El Salvador’s citizens received protection status in the wake of two devastating earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001 that left hundreds of thousands homeless. The decision comes as the Bush administration seeks to tighten immigration laws and expel illegal immigrants.
Migrant support groups strongly criticized the decision, arguing that the decision ignored the violence in El Salvador and left only limited alternatives to El Salvador’s citizens.
Citizens of El Salvador are the top nationalities of the countries covered by the Temporary Protection Program in the United States as they are the most numerous, and administration officials say the program is a temporary haven for the victims and not a right to stay forever in the United States.
Tramp’s amendments to the Temporary Protection Program mean that some 250,000 people who have been allowed to live and work in the United States will face deportation within the next two years if they remain in the country.
Citizens of Haiti and Nicaragua are also expected to lose temporary protection in 2019 and may be followed in the same year by Hondurans, the second largest group under the protection program.
