White House Ends Protected Status 57,000 Honduras Immigrants

The Trump administration has, after introducing similar regulation for the 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador, announced that it would be ending the Temporary Protected Status of the 57,000 immigrants from Honduras, meaning most of those people will be asked to return to their homeland by 5 January 2020 at the latest.

People from Honduras got to enjoy the protected status in the US when Hurricane Mitch hit the Central American country in 1998, causing widespread devastation. Subsequent White House Administrations had each time extended the program. The current White House administration of President Donald Trump however had vowed to end this and is following up on that election promise now.

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The statement from the Department of Homeland Security on the issue read: “Since 1999, conditions in Honduras that resulted from the hurricane have notably improved. Additionally, since the last review of the country’s conditions in October 2016, Honduras has made substantial progress in post-hurricane recovery and reconstruction from the 1998 Hurricane Mitch.”

Meanwhile Honduras's current government is negotiating with the US to get them to withdraw the order which it "profoundly regrets".

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According to the Honduras Ambassador to the US, Mr Marlon Tabora, the country is ill-equipped to handle the repatriation of tens of thousands of people in the coming years. Mr Tabora "These families have lived in the United States for 20 years and re-integrating them into the country will not be easy if they decide to return."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DHS limits its consideration to &quot;whether those originating conditions continue to exist&quot; but they could have redesignated <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TPS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TPS</a> for Honduras based on pervasive violence as a qualifying &quot;extraordinary &amp; temporary condition&quot; that prevents people from returning in safety. <a href="https://t.co/tKM6ZlVxAw">https://t.co/tKM6ZlVxAw</a></p>&mdash; Royce B. Murray (@roycebmurray) <a href="https://twitter.com/roycebmurray/status/992487875559284737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The move also means that most of those immigrants from Honduras arriving with the infamous ‘caravan’ from Pueblo Sin Fronteras in San Diego, will be forced to return in some 18 months from now.

A group of Boston lawyers has stated they would appeal the decision and fight it in a US court.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Boston-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice said later on Friday that it would amend a legal complaint filed in February to include the Hondurans affected. <a href="https://t.co/l2CmpLvzib">https://t.co/l2CmpLvzib</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TPS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TPS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Honduras?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Honduras</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/immigration?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#immigration</a></p>&mdash; Lawyers&#39; Committee for Civil Rights (@LawyersCom_MA) <a href="https://twitter.com/LawyersCom_MA/status/992547138449104896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The Trump administration had announced it would scrap the Temporary Protected Status for all those immigrants hailing from countries struck by natural disasters.

Source:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-honduras/trump-administration-moves-to-expel-some-57000-hondurans-idUSKBN1I52DW