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/MAY DAY/US-CENTRAL AMERICA: Anxiety Plagues Immigrant Workers
By Néfer Muñoz
SAN JOSE, Apr 24 (IPS) - The United States government has not yet
announced whether or not it plans to grant a new extension of the
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) enjoyed by 347,000 Central
American immigrants, which expires in the next few months.
Mass deportations of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and
Nicaragua, three of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, would
be the result if the temporary immigration status is not renewed.
U.S. authorities have until May 5 in some cases and Jul. 9 in
others to decide whether to extend, for the fourth time, the
special status granted to 347,000 Salvadorans, Hondurans and
Nicaraguans.
But in the face of Washington's silence, anxiety is growing
among the immigrants and their families back home. In the
meantime, the governments of the three nations are getting
nervous, due to the economic and social chaos that would ensue if
the workers are deported.
Central American workers in the United States send their
families in their countries of origin an estimated total of four
billion dollars a year in remittances, according to Unidad
Hondureña (Honduran Unity), one of the leading associations of
Latin American immigrants in the United States.
Of that total, between 300 and 400 million dollars come from
TPS beneficiaries.
''We are facing enormous uncertainty. If Washington does not
resolve this problem, a grave situation will be created,''
Honduran Labour Minister Germán Leitzelar told IPS.
Central America ''is not in a position to absorb possible
deportations'' of immigrants, whose return would ''accentuate the
economic pressures we are facing and provoke even greater social
imbalances,'' he added.
Honduras and Nicaragua were devastated by Hurricane Mitch in
late 1998, which destroyed infrastructure and dealt a heavy blow
to their already ailing economies and left 24,000 dead or missing.
El Salvador, which was also affected, but to a lesser extent, was
then hit by two earthquakes just one month apart in early 2001.
Leitzelar explained that the governments, as well as non-
governmental organisations (NGOs), in Central America have
intensified their efforts to urge Washington to grant a new
extension. ''We hope for a positive response, but there is a sense
of uncertainty,'' he added.
TPS benefits for immigrants from the three Central American
nations originally expired in 2000, but have been renewed three
times since then.
There are serious doubts as to whether the government of George
W. Bush will grant a fourth extension, due to the administration's
tougher restrictions on immigration as part of its ''war on
terrorism'' and heightened focus on national security since the
Sep. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
Around 5,000 Nicaraguans, 82,000 Hondurans and 260,000
Salvadorans are TPS beneficiaries, who are granted an ID card
containing the immigrant's name, date of birth, fingerprints and
photo, as well as their case number, which authorises them to a
temporary work permit.
The TPS programme was created by the U.S. Congress in 1990 to
allow the attorney-general to grant temporary immigration status
to undocumented foreign nationals in the United States who are
unable to return to their countries due to armed conflicts,
environmental disasters or other ''extraordinary and temporary
conditions.''
TPS is currently granted to eligible nationals from the
following designated countries: Burundi, El Salvador, Honduras,
Liberia, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and
until last month, Angola.
But the INS underlines that TPS ''does not lead to permanent
resident status,'' and expires when the attorney-general judges
that the extraordinary circumstances in the immigrant's country of
origin have changed.
TPS benefits expire on Jul. 5 for Nicaraguans and Hondurans and
Sep. 9 for Salvadorans.
However, the law stipulates that the renewal or termination of
the TPS designation must be announced 60 days before that
deadline, which in this case is May 5 and Jul. 9, respectively.
''What worries us is that in Central America, the conditions
for the TPS to be eliminated do not exist,'' the president of
Unidad Hondureña, José Lagos, told IPS.
Lagos said massive deportations would severely aggravate the
social and economic crisis in the region, due to the consequent
rise in unemployment and shrinking of expatriate remittances.
According to government statistics, unemployment affects five
percent of the economically active population of Central America,
which totals 14 million. But under-employment stands at 28 percent
due to the huge number of people who depend on the informal
economy and precarious employment for a livelihood.
NGOs, meanwhile, put the poverty rates in Nicaragua, El
Salvador and Honduras above 70 percent.
''We have carried out a petition drive with open letters
addressed to President Bush, and we are in contact with White
House officials, congresspersons, the Catholic Church and trade
unions,'' added Lagos, who spent four years in the United States
as an undocumented worker himself before obtaining permanent
residency and eventually becoming a naturalised U.S. citizen.
Unidad Hondureña has also asked Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the
president's brother, to intervene.
The state of Florida is home to a large community of Latin
American immigrants and their descendants.
But the signs are not good. In March, authorities terminated
TPS designation for Angola.
Central America is seeking more than a renewal of TPS benefits.
The region's leaders are calling for U.S. policy towards
immigrants from this region to be redesigned, and for an amnesty
that would grant permanent residency status to thousands of
Central Americans who have been working for years in the United
States as undocumented immigrants.
''A fourth extension of TPS would be a miracle,'' Maureen
Zamora, director of the National Forum on Migration, a Honduran
NGO, remarked to IPS. ''And I must say that it is this waiting
that wears you out with anguish.''
Washington has three options. It could renew TPS for another
year, giving beneficiaries 60 days to apply for a continuation of
their status.
It could refrain from making any decision, which would lead to
an automatic six-month extension, after which any TPS
beneficiaries without a pending application for other forms of
immigration relief or protection would have to leave the United
States.
Or it could announce an end to TPS designation for immigrants
from the three countries, and the 347,000 beneficiaries would have
60 days to leave the country, after which deportations would
begin.
Zamora said that many were hoping for a favourable resolution,
given the fact that Central America expressed its support for the
U.S.-led war on Iraq, unlike most of the rest of Latin America and
a majority of countries around the world.
Besides the TPS beneficiaries, hundreds of thousands of
undocumented Central American immigrants live and work in the
United States, including 30,000 Costa Ricans, 100,000 Guatemalans,
90,000 Hondurans, 50,000 Nicaraguans and 100,000 Salvadorans.
Most of them braved dangerous journeys through the jungles of
Central America and the deserts along the Mexican-U.S. border, in
search of a decent job and a way to support their families.
But the tension is growing. ''If the United States renews or
eliminates TPS, it will not have an influence on the flow of
immigration from Central America,'' said Zamora, adding ''This is
a very serious problem that requires debate and integral
solutions.'' (END/2003)
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