A group of immigrant activists began a hunger strike Monday, hoping to get President Joe Biden’s administration to renew temporary protected status (TPS), which protects certain migrants from deportation.
The eight-day hunger strike calls attention TPS that’s set to expire for many Central American migrant groups after President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump repeatedly has pledged to carry out mass deportations once he's in office.
Currently, 17 countries have TPS designation, meaning the Department of Homeland Security deems it unsafe for people from those countries to return. This could be because of ongoing armed conflicts or environmental disasters.
TPS recipients are allowed to live and work in the U.S. legally, but they do not have a direct pathway to citizenship. Thousands of TPS recipients are part of mixed-status families. The fear, advocates say, is families being separated if Trump removes the protections.
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“TPS families contribute to this country,” said Martha Arevalo of Central American Resource Center. “They’re critical to the economy of this country. They give more than they take.”
Jose Urías of El Salvador is a TPS recipient and business owner. He said he's part of the hunger strike because he wants to do everything he can to stay in this country.
“It’s for our future, right?” he said. “It’s for our family. So, either you do that now and fight for … we have a chance, or we just hide and just let the new administration to do whatever they want with our family.”
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If Biden were to renew protected statuses, this would only last for an additional 18 months. The incoming Trump administration could always decide to undo the protections, a move that's expected to be challenged in court as it was when he was in office for his first term.
“They pay their taxes,” Arevalo said. “Every 18 months they go through a background check, and they want to stay here. They’ve made their life here. This is their new home.”
TPS protection is set to expire March 9 for Salvadorans, April 2 for Venezuelans, and July 5 for Nicaraguans and Hondurans.
While it's unclear at this point how Trump plans to handle the future of TPS, he did say on the campaign trail he would revoke protected status for Haitian immigrants, and he did try to remove TPS designations from several countries — including Nicaragua and El Salvador — during his first term.
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