Chicago, IL — Today, the Biden Administration announced an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal as part of its actions in the Ramos v. Mayorkas lawsuit. This means that only people from those countries who already have TPS and are living in the United States will receive an additional 18 months of authorization to live and work in the country. This decision leaves out thousands of people from those nationalities who have built a home in the U.S. but lack regularized immigration status, denying them relief from deportation through a new TPS designation. In light of this situation, Alianza Americas, a network of 57 organizations led by migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, issues the following statement.

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“We regret President Biden’s timid action to only grant an 18-month extension for affected countries under the Ramos v. Mayorkas litigation. Current TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal will receive such relief. This decision leaves out thousands of people from the same countries who have been an integral part of their communities in the United States for more than five years, many of whom have children who are U.S. citizens,” said Yanira Arias, Director of Campaigns for Alianza Americas and TPS beneficiary from El Salvador. In its decision, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also struck down the Trump administration’s arguments calling for the cancellation of the TPS benefit for those listed above. “This is a positive step, but executed too late. It took three years for the Biden administration to rescind its support for Trump’s whimsical, xenophobic and discriminatory reasoning to cancel TPS,” Arias added.

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For the past several years, organizations like Alianza Americas and its network of member organizations, as well as its allies, urged the Biden administration to use its executive power to grant new TPS designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala as a measure to protect more people without regularized status because social, political and economic conditions in their countries of origin have not improved, but rather have deteriorated. “We urge the White House to reconsider today’s announcement. In the past, Biden has granted new TPS designations to other countries. Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal all have a case for new relief measures. The Biden administration has ignored thousands of people who are an integral part of making this nation great,” said Leticia Casildo, a Honduran Garífuna from the organization Familias Unidas en Acción.

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In states like Florida and Texas there are thousands of Central Americans who could fall victim to the anti-immigrant policies like those of Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott. TPS has proven to be an effective way to protect people against deportation. “We cannot celebrate the exclusion of those who will be victims of the anti-immigrant policies of politicians like DeSantis and Abbot, their laws are already causing harm. President Biden still has the time and power to do the right thing: recognize that the causes of forced migration in Central American countries are a merit for new designations and that none of the governments across the Central American region offer a safe place for people to return to,” added Bertha Sanles, a Nicaraguan community organizer with the American Friends Service Committee of Florida.

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Alianza Americas is the premier transnational advocacy network of Latin American migrant-led organizations working in the United States, across the Americas, and globally to create an inclusive, equitable and sustainable way of life for communities across North, Central and South America.