UnidosUS Decries Administration’s Decision to Force Longtime Honduran Residents to Leave the United States

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WASHINGTON, DC—Today, UnidosUS (formerly NCLR) condemned the Trump administration’s cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 57,000 Honduran immigrants, many of whom have resided in the United States for nearly 20 years. Today’s announcement, which will give Honduran TPS holders until 2020 to leave, is just the latest in a long line of cruel and unnecessary moves by this administration, which terminated similar protections for 9,000 Nepalese immigrants just last week and for more than a quarter million El Salvadoran, Nicaraguan and Haitian, combined, TPS beneficiaries since last November, despite the desperate conditions still facing each of these countries.

“The fact that this administration is so eager to force Honduran TPS holders to abandon their homes to return to a potentially life-threatening situation—and a country that’s ill-prepared to take them back—is chilling. It is also an economically shortsighted move that will needlessly endanger lives and tear apart thousands of mixed-status families. It’s estimated that Honduran TPS holders are parents to 53,500 U.S.-citizen children,” stated UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía.

“These people are taxpayers, employers, customers and integral members of American communities. They work and own homes and businesses, go to church and school, and are our friends and neighbors. They are part of a great American story that’s quickly becoming a senseless American tragedy,” Murguía concluded.