Trump Eliminates TPS Protections for Nicaraguan Migrants

The United States has ended the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, program for Nicaraguan migrants living in the country, EFE reported.

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TPS provides temporary legal status in the United States to citizens of other countries where natural disasters or civil wars have made it too dangerous for them to return. TPS also enables beneficiaries to work legally in the United States and requires them to pay taxes. The program, however, is not a path to citizenship. 

The program was extended to both countries after Hurricane Mitch hit Central America in 1998. The Department of Homeland Security claimed that conditions in Nicaragua have improved enough to cancel the program.

The elimination of the program won't be immediate as it will be extended until January 2019 to allow Nicaraguans to return to their countries. If they don't comply, they will be considered undocumented migrants and could face deportation.

More than 5,000 Nicaraguans and about 85,000 Hondurans are beneficiaries of that program.

The government will review this program for Hondurans again in July 2018. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke confirmed that the decision on Honduras is postponed in order to discuss circumstances particular to that country.

Citizens from El Salvador also received TPS status after two earthquakes in 2001 destroyed infrastructure in entire regions of the country. TPS for those 260,000 Salvadorans, the largest group of beneficiaries, expires in March.

The program has been renewed several times for all benefiting countries until U.S. President Donald Trump began reviewing the policy.