Jayapal Statement on Termination of TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua

SEATTLE, WA — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Hondurans and Nicaraguans:

“The purpose of the TPS program is to offer legal status to people whose home countries are too dangerous to return to. The revocation of TPS is out of touch with the reality of conditions in Honduras and Nicaragua — and even the State Department’s own analyses of these countries. These are legal designations that have existed under Presidents of both parties – this is just another attack on our legal system that will affect thousands of lives.

“ The people whose legal status will be terminated are not the ‘worst of the worst’ as Trump promised he would focus on. They are people who have been in the United States for decades — working, raising families, and contributing to our economy and communities. 

“Forcing these people to leave the lives they’ve built to return to dangerous conditions is outrageous. And let me be clear — TPS is legal immigration. We must work to protect this program and other means of legal immigration from Trump’s continued attacks on our legal system.”

TPS is a designation that temporarily allows foreign nationals who are already in the United States to remain lawfully during periods that would prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely. Since coming to office, Trump has moved to end TPS status for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Issues: Immigration