Photo by Peg Hunter/Creative Commons.
Over the last six months, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has systematically halted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) offered to immigrants from violence-torn or climate-ravaged countries in the 1990s. Most recently, DHS announced the end of these protections for the 57,000 Hondurans who reside in the U.S. Though TPS was conferred due to post-hurricane devastation in that country, Honduras is now rife with gang violence and police corruption (see Mateo’s Story: Faces of the Refugee Caravan in this newsletter) as well as government repression of citizens who speak out—more than 30 people have been killed and others wounded and arrested for exercising their right to free speech. It is not safe or sensible for Hondurans to return, and yet, like other formerly protected immigrants, they will be forced to leave the lives they have made in the U.S. in the next 1–2 years or face deportation.
Please join the KBI in voicing your strong opposition to removing TPS for these vulnerable populations and to restoring these protections by contacting your congressional representatives. This action alert from the Jesuit Conference of Canada and United States And Jesuit Refugee Service/USA guides you through the process: http://cqrcengage.com/jesuit/app/onestep-write-a-letter?2&engagementId=470093&ep=AAAAC2Flc0NpcGhlcjAx0SmUpi3tcXJ02YqH2u4JVQcR4uYTNYsUu-BP6fbvBcm4_Qk58ZomET-ILXvUqFg4iVy72O3MnEpOH3Vk9YS0deS0FILdxcX0PMt997wA1pw&lp=0.
More information is available from the Ignatian Solidarity Network: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2018/05/05/ignatian-solidarity-network-strongly-condemns-termination-of-temporary-protected-status-for-honduras/. Please also see Jesuit priest Fr. Melo’s editorial in The Hill about the situation of Honduras: http://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/387394-honduran-lives-at-risk. Thank you for your urgent action and advocacy to protect TPS holders whose lives are at risk!
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