Rosa*, a youth worker at a school in St. Paul, MN, was born and raised in St. Paul. So were all of her brothers and sisters and her nine-year-old son. Despite their U.S. citizenship, they are threatened by the Trump administration’s move to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for residents of El Salvador and a dozen other countries. Though they are U.S. citizens, they could lose their mother, a Salvadoran national who has lived in this country for 29 years.

Rosa grew up in what is called a mixed-status family. Her mother had TPS protection and a work permit. Her father, a Mexican national, was undocumented. The children were all U.S. citizens. Her father was deported seven years ago. Now her mother is threatened with the end of her TPS status.

“I only realized her status about four or five years ago,” Rosa says. “She would just tell me ‘I have a work permit.’ These are not conversations families have until they have to bring it up. You don’t talk about not having documents with your children ever – just when it has to come up.”

Rosa’s mom has worked while raising seven children. After she and Rosa’s dad were divorced, she remarried about nine years ago. Her second husband, a legal permanent resident, petitioned for her to get a permanent resident visa as his spouse. (That’s one of a few kinds of family visas available under law.) That petition has been pending for years, with no response from the government.

“Now that I have a stable enough job to be considered a sponsor,” Rosa has filed her own petition for her mother to be granted a permanent resident visa. Her mother is eligible as the mother of a U.S. citizen over the age of 21, another kind of family visa. While she is optimistic about the chances of approval, “there is the fear that she could be told to leave before we get through the process,” Rosa says. That process can take “from six months to eight years,” she says. The backlog for family visa petitions is long and growing.

Rosa and her mother have decided to tell their stories to help others. “The knowledge of what it would feel like if she weren’t here any more makes me think of others who are in imminent danger,” Rosa says. Some 275,000 U.S. citizens are children of parents with TPS.

For now, a temporary injunction from a federal court protects TPS holders, but that is no guarantee for the future. If you want to support Rosa’s mom and other TPS families, contact your members of Congress and tell them to support a path to legal permanent residence for TPS holders. That’s the only way to real protection for Rosa’s mom and all the other TPS holders who have made homes and lives here.

* We have changed some names in this story. As a matter of policy, we usually change the names of immigrants when telling their stories. While the stories are real, and while the individuals have agreed to let us use their stories, we choose to protect their privacy by not using their real names.

Born in El Salvador, William came to the United States in 2000, with his mother and brother. They came on tourist visas, to visit his grandma. They planned to return to El Salvador, but then disaster hit. On January 13, 2001, an earthquake hit El Salvador. The epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude quake was just 60 miles from the family’s home in San Miguel.

William was eight years old. His mother was at university, just two years away from becoming a doctor. Their home and life were in El Salvador, but his grandma didn’t want them to go back. Too dangerous, she said. Stay here with me.

The earthquake killed more than 900 people, completely destroyed 108,000 houses and damaged another 169,000. Aftershocks continued into February, when a second earthquake hit. On March 1, the U.S. government established Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans physically present in the United States.

William’s mother applied, and the family has had TPS since that time. For her, the price was high: giving up her future career as a doctor in El Salvador, and going to work cleaning houses in the United States to support herself and her children. She worked hard, and eventually established a housecleaning business. William went to college, and also trained as an ironworker and welder. Now 26 years old, he is proud to have worked his way up to being a supervisor for both trades.

“A lot of people like me are TPS youth,” he says. “There’s a lot of hard work we have to do, such as background checks every 18 months [to renew TPS status.]” The TPS youth, like William, have lived in the United States for most of their lives. This is home to them. Now that protection is threatened.

The Trump administration ordered an end to TPS, despite State Department reports showing the danger of doing so. As New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez explained:

“[F]ormer Secretary Tillerson made it clear that ending TPS for El Salvador and Honduras would have major repercussions, including a likely backlash that weakened our cooperation to combat the drug trade and criminal gangs in Central America. And yet, the Trump Administration did it anyway.

“The State Department was also right in warning the Department of Homeland Security that ending these protections would leave TPS beneficiaries and their U.S.-citizen children vulnerable to criminal violence and gang recruitment by MS-13. And yet, the Trump Administration did it anyway.

“Beyond turning an entire community of legal residents into undocumented individuals, the State Department also cautioned that ending TPS for El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti would likely accelerate unauthorized immigration to the United States. The Trump Administration did it anyway.”

William is traveling with the TPS Caravan for Justice, which is traveling around the country for 12 weeks. “We are going to each state,” he said, “asking TPS holders to join us and also letting the U.S. citizens, our neighbors, to stand with us. We live in the country together, we work together, there should be no reason why we cannot stand together. The country is great. We’ve had differences, but that shouldn’t separate us.”

For now, a temporary injunction from a federal court protects TPS holders, but that is no guarantee for the future. If you want to support William and other TPS holders, contact your members of Congress and tell them to support a path to legal permanent residence for TPS holders. That’s the only way to real protection for William and all the other TPS holders who have made homes and lives here.

 

MN immigrants fear new proposal will prevent parents, spouses from coming to join them. Proposal could affect 70,000 MN immigrants.

Federal judge orders temporary halt to Trump administration termination of TPS.

ILCM is opening the Minnesota Immigrant and Refugee Rights Helpline this week as a resource for community members with questions about the proposed public charge rule change that was announced by the Trump Administration over the weekend. Although the rule is not yet published in the Federal Register, and is not final, we want to provide a resource for low-income residents in Minnesota who have questions or concerns about the announcement. Volunteer attorneys will be staffing the Helpline during the days/times listed on the attached flyer, and will be available for brief phone consults with eligible callers. See the attached flyer for the Helpline phone number and more information. Please feel free to circulate widely. Thank you.

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Helpline Flyer_Public Charge_Somali

A new regulation would deny permanent legal residence to immigrants if anyone in their household, uses public benefits such as food stamps.

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This year’s refugee numbers are the lowest ever—Trump wants even fewer refugees next year.

“We’re celebrating welcoming week here in Austin to embrace the diversity that we have because it makes the town better if everyone feels welcome,” said Sara Karki of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.