CARSON CITY, Nev. – Latino groups are speaking out against the decision by the Trump administration on Monday to end legal status for some people from Central America who were given temporary protected status over the past two decades.

The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program authorized residency and work permits for tens of thousands of people fleeing hurricanes and strife in Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti and El Salvador.

Now the Nicaraguans could lose their legal status in January 2019.

Abel Nunez, executive director of the nonprofit group Carecen, the largest Central American immigrants' organization in the country, says the federal government is making a very shortsighted decision.

"Sending back more of their nationals when their country is not ready can only create chaos in those countries and actually create more of a massive wave of migration to the U.S.," he states.

The TPS program has been renewed repeatedly since its inception. But Trump's Department of Homeland Security is changing course, saying that the countries are now stable enough for people to return.

The department put the decision on the fate of 86,000 Hondurans off for six months. And an announcement is expected soon on the fate of TPS holders from Haiti and El Salvador.

Royce Murray, policy director at the American Immigration Council, says it would be cruel to tear parents away from their U.S. born children, uprooting a group of people who came here legally and have set down roots.

"More than 50 percent of these folks have been here more than 20 years,” she points out. “A third of these Hondurans own homes. When pulled together, the Hondurans as well as the Haitians and El Salvadorans, who have TPS, there are 270,000 U.S.-born children from this collective group of TPS holders. "

Congress has spent millions of dollars in recent years trying to stabilize countries in Central America, where violent crime is rampant.

Nunez says Central American immigrants send billions of dollars in remittances back to their home countries each year, and the loss of that money would further destabilize the region.





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Immigration advocacy groups are calling on New Yorkers to join them in Foley Square at noon today. It's a National Day of Action to call attention to what they're calling a "cruel" immigration system.

People in roughly a dozen cities across the country are asking the Biden administration to follow through on promises to close immigration detention centers and put an end to deportations. Catherine Barnett, co-director of the New York group Freedom to Thrive, said this will be an opportunity to hear from people who are directly impacted by the immigration system.

"Folks who have been held in detention, families who have loved ones who have been in detention," she said. "There's opportunity to provide for family reunification and mental-health services - for people to be able to participate in a way that they're not able to do when they are being locked away."

In New York, Barnett said, an Assembly bill known as the Dignity Not Detention Act is currently in committee. It is similar to one passed in New Jersey, which led to detention facilities being closed. It would allow for people to wait for the decision on their immigration status without being locked up.

Barnett said there's a lot of misinformation about the immigration system. She added that many people even believe the current process is working.

"Some locations feel like there's an economic benefit to keeping people in cages, because you're providing jobs in particular parts of the state," she said. "We need to think about different ways we can provide economic incentives, economic support for individuals and communities, that are not relying on us expressing the worst of our humanity."

Barnett said her hope for the rally and the National Day of Action is to raise awareness, and move toward creating systems that prioritize the health and well-being of all people.

Organizations that help immigrants find a community, achieve economic self-sufficiency, and become legal residents or citizens say anti-immigrant rhetoric has created a funding challenge. Financial donations are down in Texas - which has bused more than 20,000 migrants to unprepared cities. Lawmakers have considered legislation to create a state border police task force empowered to "repel" and arrest migrants.

Tania Chavez Camacho, executive director, La Unión Del Pueblo Entero, or LUPE, said a lack of funding impacts direct services they can provide.

"We need the funding to be flexible because oftentimes we might need to house families, we might need to feed families, we might need to fly families," she explained.

Nationwide, the funding average for pro-immigrant and pro-refugee groups is $7, compared with $3.50 in Texas, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. Texas immigrants account for 1/6 of the state's total population.

Cairo Mendes is with the group Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. He says philanthropic donations are needed to meet and match public dollars and support the work done for migrants and immigrants by non-traditional groups.

"The small grassroots organizations that just don't have the sort-of infrastructure to be doing the development work day in and day out but are really connected to community and have access to these individuals," Mendes explained.

A "mobile app" created by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to help schedule immigration court hearings is well-intentioned, Chavez Camacho said, but she noted it is not always practical.

"They are asking people to sign up for an appointment via an app - when they're literally running for their lives - seems not OK. Absolutely not OK," Chavez Camacho continued.

Legal permanent and temporary immigration rose in 2022 after the COVID-19 public-health crisis abated and the Biden administration extended or expanded "Temporary Protected Status" for certain eligible U.S. immigrants.

A New York immigrants' rights organization has created a membership group to develop solutions for better treatment of immigrants arriving in the state.

Composed of immigrants, Envision Freedom Fund's new group hopes to provide a better understanding of immigrant needs. The program was created out of a desire by previously detained immigrants who want to help those who are now going through the detention process.

Anacristina Fonseca, community engagement coordinator for the Envision Freedom Fund, described how the program has evolved.

"We started meeting regularly on Zoom and from there, it kind of naturally turned into more organizing work," Fonseca recounted. "People being interested in advocacy work, and doing things like going to Albany to lobby."

She added the group's shared experiences include being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and dealing with the sometimes abusive experience of posting immigration bonds. Last year, New York lawmakers passed the Stop Immigrant Bond Abuse Act, which regulates the companies providing immigration bonds. The law prohibits them from using electronic ankle monitors, and caps interest and fees on these bonds.

Carl Hamad-Lipscombe, executive director of the Envision Freedom Fund, said feedback about the program has been positive thus far, who hopes the group's recommendations will not only improve U.S. immigration policies, but the services Envisions Freedom Fund offers.

"One of the things that they highlighted for us very early on is the need for more mental health services for recently arrived immigrants that have just gone through, really, what's probably the most traumatic experience of their lives, migrating," Hamad-Lipscombe explained. "Based on their feedback, we've increased our resources and our referrals in that area."

One of the biggest challenges has been those who run the group are immigrants themselves, dealing simultaneously with their own immigration cases. In the future, Hamad-Lipscombe said they will establish a set of principles and values for the program to uphold.