Washington D.C., May 7, 2018 / 18:00 pm
Temporary protected status (TPS) protections will not be renewed for Honduran nationals living in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday. The director of the US bishops' migration services program has said ending TPS protections for Hondurans would be inhumane.
TPS is a program meant to temporarily shield immigrants from scheduled deportation due to adverse situations in their countries of origin; TPS status is generally conferred following a natural disaster, epidemic, or some sort of societal unrest. It permits affected parties to legally work in the United States.
Hondurans are among several immigrant groups for whom TPS status will come to an end within the coming years, alongside immigrants from El Salvador, Nepal, Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua.
TPS was conferred on Honduran nationals after a hurricane destroyed large parts of the country in 1998, causing over $2 billion in damages. Since then, about 86,000 Hondurans have registered for TPS. If the protections expire, they will have to leave the United States and return to Honduras.