Salvadorans Can Stay in Country and Work for Now: DHS

Some 170,000 Salvadoran nationals living in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) can remain in the country and continue working even though TPS expired for El Salvador on Sept. 9. That is the word from the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS).

“An announcement on El Salvador’s TPS will be made at the appropriate time. Until such announcement is made, Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection,” DHS said in a statement.

TPS allows nationals from a designated country to remain in the U.S. if it's determined that unrest or natural disasters would make it unsafe for them to return to their homelands.

The Hill newspaper reported that the Trump Administration has not said whether it will let deportation protections lapse for Salvadoran nationals in the U.S. — a different track after the DHS ended TPS for 13 other countries.

“The department on Wednesday [Sept.9] said TPS would remain in effect for El Salvador, a country led by Trump ally Nayib Bukele, who last year agreed to imprison U.S. deportees in exchange for millions of dollars from the administration,” the newspaper said.

TPS for Salvadorans started 25 years ago and if the protection ends it will affect long-term care providers with employees from that nation, mostly located in Southern California, Maryland, New York, Texas, and Virginia where the highest concentrations of Salvadorans with TPS are located.

LTC providers are already dealing with the loss of many workers after the Trump Administration in August started enforcing the end to TPS for some 350,000 Haitian nationals.  

In addition to El Salvador, just three other countries have TPS protections that will soon expire: Sudan, Ukraine, and Lebanon.

Read previous Park Place coverage on Salvadoran TPS here and on Haiti TPS here.

Comments? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.