US lawmakers join the request to extend TPS to Central Americans

The president of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the US Senate, Robert Menéndez, gathered this Thursday -along with other legislators- outside the Capitol to express his support for the administration of President Joe Biden to extend the Temporary Protected Status (TPS). ) for immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

The senator of Cuban origin said that the Biden administration has the power to use the executive power to extend that benefit to other Central Americans beyond the original designations of 1999, due to Hurricane Mitch, for Hondurans and Nicaraguans, and of 2001 for Salvadorans after of two earthquakes that destroyed much of that country’s infrastructure.

“It is time for that beacon to shine and we give TPS to Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans (…) The president has “the executive power to grant TPS for these communities, and again, not only renew them but to amplify it so that those people who arrived after the original TPS are included as well,” said Senator Menéndez.

Other legislators, including Democratic congressmen Adriano Espaillat, Raul Ruiz and Joaquín Castro, participated together with the highest representative of foreign affairs of the Upper House in a rally with dozens of protesters called by the Casa de Maryland organization as part of the commemoration of independence in Central American countries.

Adriano Espaillat said that “no one wants to leave their country” and that they do so when conditions are pressing, such as the impact of climate change and insecurity, so “we want our president and the government to extend TPS to these countries, Honduras , Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua”.

Because when there is deep will, everything is possible -according to the congressman-, a request that was also joined by the representative of Texas, Joaquín Castro, for whom by expanding the TPS, the North American nation could obtain a plus with regularized workers in the face of need. of labor in the US economy.

For this legislator whose Texas district he found himself in months ago a container with dozens of migrants who died asphyxiated, the constant migration of Central Americans -he said- reflects the situation of violence exercised by gangs, drug cartels and corruption in those countries.

California Congressman Raul Ruiz, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said he has directly asked President Biden for TPS to be expanded to Central American immigrants.

“We were talking with President Biden in the Oval Office of the White House and we had the opportunity to talk about what are the policy issues that are important to us as the Hispanic Caucus and we discussed the issue of TPS (…) I have also spoken with him. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (of DHS) on this matter and the importance of extending TPS,” Ruiz said.

For the director of the organization Casa de Maryland, Gustavo Torres, the actions of the organized communities in favor of this temporary benefit must maintain the fight and continue pushing to get more support.

Next week, representatives of the TPS National Alliance, which brings together committees of Central Americans scattered throughout the United States, will also demonstrate in Washington DC to request a transition from temporary status to permanent residence and to extend the benefit to their countrymen who lack legal status.

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