Standing up for TPS recipients is an altruistic choice

Amanda Bazil/ Contributing Writer

What started out as a form of humanitarian relief that gave migrants hope for new opportunities to a better life is now abruptly coming to a sad end.

Over 22 countries have been given TPS, or Temporary Protection Status, throughout the last 20 years, according to the Department of Justice. Unfortunately, in recent times, about 437,000 TPS migrants from 10 different countries are at risk of losing their protection in the upcoming years.

Many TPS recipients are migrants who have fled their countries because of extreme hardships they’ve faced due to armed conflict or natural disasters.

Although the different crises that have caused migrants to flee have long since happened — like the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti back in 2010, the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit El Salvador back in 2001, and the notorious category five Hurricane Mitch that devastated both Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998 — the economic structure of these countries are still suffering a kind of damage that can’t be remedied by the time their statuses expire.

This is where our role as American citizens come in.

To understand our power though, we must first understand how TPS works. Created by Congress in 1990, a TPS designation can be made for 6, 12, or 18 months at a time, according to the American Immigration Council.

At least 60 days prior to the expiration of TPS, the Secretary must decide whether to extend or terminate a designation based on the conditions in the foreign country.

As seen with Honduras’ TPS, if a decision isn’t made in the 60 day-timeframe, the designation is automatically extended for six months. So, if the conditions in the foreign country are well by Congress standards, then the TPS ends and its recipients get deported.

Sounds harsh, but that’s how it’s been structured since it found its way in the Immigration Act of 1990.

The only concern is when Congress agrees to send them back, on what circumstances are they basing their decisions? The 10 countries in which TPS recipients originate from all suffer some form of economic turbulence, according to the individual nation’s profiles done by Washington’s Heritage Foundation.

This coupled with the violence, crime and poverty clearly shows it’s not the right time for TPS recipients to go back home any time soon. Doing so just places the migrants who seek the U.S. for asylum back into potentially dangerous environments — the same kind of environments we saved them from.

Not only are the struggling economies a huge concern, but the cease on the influx of remittances, or funds that a person living in a foreign country sends back home, will aid in crippling the countries even further.

Almost half of the nations listed are developing countries who heavily rely on these remittances, which surprisingly are more than most countries’ capital flows, public and private, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

So, if we deport foreign workers, many of whom have probably spent the last decade or two providing for not only for themselves, but their families here as well as loved back home, then their countries suffer along with them.

As American citizens, we can help voice our concerns over the matter at hand, which puts these recipients at an injustice. TPS helps to save lives, restore generations, secure their financial futures, and assists with developing countries.

All good things must come to an end, as I’m sure they all do, but this ending deserves to have a closure that is not bittersweet. Deporting all TPS recipients like as if their countries are “stable enough” is a decision that isn’t the least bit altruistic, especially now.

 

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

 

Photo by Nitish Meena on Unsplash.

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