Today, the Trump administration rescinded the Temporary Protected Status of more than 260,000 Salvadorans who’ve been living in the United States since 2001. Temporary Protected Status was a humanitarian program created to allow Salvadorans to live and work in the United States in peace after two earthquakes ravaged the country in 2001. On March 2, 2001, President Bush (Republican) announced the program to support Salvadorans who were negatively impacted by the earthquakes. The original Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans was supposed to last for 18 months, but it has been extended numerous times since then.
When considering all the facts, it might seem logical to close this program. The original program was designed to support Salvadorans who suffered from earthquake related damage. Since these individuals and the Salvadoran country theoretically have had 17 years to recover from the earthquakes, Salvadorans under that protected status might not need to remain in the United States any longer. (At the same time, I’d argue that the administration doesn’t have sufficient evidence to back their recent decisions to rescind TPS. These decisions seem to be made from an anti-immigrant perspective.)
What that “black and white” argument misses is the human aspect of revoking such a program. The current approach belies an oblivious or indifferent approach to the lives behind these numbers. They are parents, community members, employees, small business owners, and overall contributors to society. They are working, going to school, paying taxes, and doing their part while residing in this country. Simply considering the human side of this decision on any, but the most heartless, would unearth the immorality of it all. Consider this, a twenty year old woman could be deported even though they legally resided in this country for 17 years. Families will be torn apart simply because some were born here while others came here legally for a chance to survive.
At the heart of this policy are hundreds of thousands of lives, human lives who deserve a chance to continue with the lives they’ve established in the United States.
