Espaillat, Hispanic Caucus Continue Call for Redesignation of TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and El Salvador.
Following White House Meeting, Members Also Reiterate Call For Designation of TPS for Guatemala. WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Second Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), led Members of the CHC in a letter to Ambassador Susan Rice, Director of the Domestic Policy Council of the United States, following up on their call for the Administration to redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and El Salvador and TPS designation for Guatemala.
This letter comes after the members’ April 25th meeting with President Biden and senior administration officials at the White House, where they discussed topics of critical importance to the Hispanic community and the CHC.—including a slate of executive actions on immigration, education, environmental justice, and healthcare.
“As mentioned during our meeting, redesignating and designating TPS for the aforementioned countries would extend protections for immigrants who have already been in the United States for many years and are unable to return to their countries due to natural disasters, conflict, and humanitarian crises,” the members said in their letter. “We are deeply concerned that many living in the United States today remain ineligible for deportation protections, and, at a moment’s notice, can be put at risk of being re-exposed to unsafe and deadly conditions in their home countries.”
The members also highlight that these additional TPS designations would help address U.S. labor shortages, protect the integrity of American families, and mitigate risks of further instability in Central America.
“Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala are still recovering from hurricanes Eta and Iota, which ravaged Central America nearly 18 months ago. Millions of vulnerable people in the region are still in urgent need of assistance…” the members continued. “These temporary designations would give the US government more time to work with regional governments and civil society to ensure that the return of a large number of people to Central America does not exacerbate the region's instability and volatility.”
In addition to Rep. Espaillat, the letter was also signed by Representatives Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), First Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Veronica Escobar (TX-16), and Tony Cárdenas (CA-29).
You can read the full text of this letter HERE, and below: Dear Director Rice: Thank you, and your team for taking the time to recently meet with Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to discuss administrative policy action that is critical for the Hispanic/Latino community. We look forward to sustained dialogue with the President on the various immigration matters my colleagues and I raised during our discussion that are of urgent importance to Hispanic communities across the country. We are eager to work together to make progress in this area. As it pertains to one of the issues, the matter of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), we wanted to thank you for your ongoing engagement about redesignating TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and El Salvador and TPS designation for Guatemala. We would like to reiterate the importance of extending TPS to said countries, and other Latin American and African countries facing ongoing conflict and environmental disasters.
As mentioned during our meeting, redesignating, and designating TPS for the aforementioned countries would extend protections for many immigrants who have already been in the United States for many years and are unable to return to their countries due to natural disasters, conflict, and humanitarian crises. We are deeply concerned that many living in the United States today remain ineligible for deportation protections, and, at a moment’s notice, can be put at risk of being re-exposed to unsafe and deadly conditions in their home countries.
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala are still recovering from hurricanes Eta and Iota, which ravaged Central America nearly 18 months ago. Millions of vulnerable people in the region are still in urgent need of assistance as they face the combined effects of last year’s hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-induced food insecurity, and increasingly weak rule of law. The governments are not capable of absorbing potentially hundreds of thousands of returnees from the United States at this time.
It is our firm belief that in addition to providing life-saving opportunities for eligible individuals already in the United States, such TPS designations would help address U.S. labor shortages, protect the integrity of American families, and mitigate risks of further instability in Central America. These temporary designations would give the US government more time to work with regional governments and civil society to ensure that the return of a large number of people to Central America does not exacerbate the region's instability and volatility.
Additionally, last year the Biden Administration rightly designated TPS for Venezuela. In early July, the Administration will need to decide whether to extend that designation or redesignate TPS for Venezuela, allowing more recent arrivals to apply for TPS. Given the continuing deterioration of the country conditions in Venezuela, as mentioned during our meeting, we urge you to redesignate TPS to allow more people to apply so they remain safely in this country
We were thankful for your attentiveness as we described the grave circumstances preventing nationals from these countries residing in the United States from being able to return to their home countries. We hope you will continue to work swiftly with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State in determining TPS redesignation and designation for countries facing ongoing conflict and environmental disasters.
Thank you for your consideration, our offices look forward to working closely with and supporting the Biden administration on this important matter.
Sincerely, Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx. First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his third term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities. He is also a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves in a leadership role as the Second Vice Chair and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, where he serves as Deputy Whip. Representative Espaillat also currently serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/. |
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