The Trump administration said Monday it will soon revoke the legal immigration status of more than 70,000 immigrants from Honduras and Nicaragua, its latest effort to curtail humanitarian programs that allow foreigners to stay in the U.S. temporarily.
The Department of Homeland Security said it would terminate the longstanding Temporary Protected Status programs for Honduras and Nicaragua in early September, paving the way for those enrolled in the initiative to be at risk of deportation unless they have other legal means to remain in the U.S.
Roughly 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans — many of whom arrived in the 1990s — have work permits and deportation protections under the TPS policy, according to the official termination notices published by DHS on Monday.
Since it was established by Congress in 1990, the U.S. government has used TPS to give certain foreigners a temporary safe haven, if returning to their home countries is deemed too dangerous due to armed conflict, environmental disasters or other crises.
The Biden administration greatly expanded TPS, offering hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from Haiti and Venezuela, the opportunity to apply for the program. But President Trump, who ran on mass deportation and hardline immigration policies, has sought to severely limit TPS, as his administration works towards what the president has promised will be the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history.
The administration has now moved to dismantle TPS programs for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Venezuela, dramatically expanding the pool of those eligible to be arrested and deported by federal immigration authorities.
While the administration’s efforts have faced legal challenges, the Supreme Court this spring let officials revoke the TPS protections of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants.
The TPS policies for Honduras and Nicaragua were first created in 1999, after Hurricane Mitch devastated parts of Central America, causing catastrophic floods and killing thousands.
In the official termination notices, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said TPS for both Honduras and Nicaragua was no longer warranted, arguing that conditions in the two countries had improved significantly and that they could receive their nationals.
“Temporary Protected Status, as the name itself makes clear, is an inherently temporary status,” both termination notices said.
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada said the termination of TPS for Honduras and Nicaraguans would separate families and hurt U.S. businesses.
“These families have been here since the 1990s, working hard and contributing to our state and country for decades,” Cortez Masto said. “Sending innocent families back into danger won’t secure our border or make America safer.”
