The Senate’s three current Hispanic Democrats are calling on President Biden to extend and strengthen humanitarian protections for certain groups of immigrants whose legal status could be stripped by the incoming Trump administration.
In a letter on Wednesday, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Alex Padilla (Calif.) and Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) called on Biden to strengthen the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program and to quickly process renewal applications for programs including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
“We write today to urge you to act decisively during the remainder of your term of office to complete important work that will protect long-term immigrant communities and ensure that families are not returned to countries where they would face immense danger,” wrote the senators.
“In addition to supporting strong border security, we are eager to ensure that DACA recipients, TPS holders, and other immigrants who are critical members of our communities and economies are not forgotten during this busy time.”
According to the National Immigration Forum, about 864,000 people are currently protected by TPS, which allows nationals of certain designated countries to live and work in the United States for renewable 18-month periods.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for those designations, which are granted based on man-made or natural disasters that would render those countries unable to safely receive deportees.
The three lawmakers used Ecuador, Nicaragua and El Salvador as examples of nations with large populations in the United States that could benefit from TPS extensions or designations.
Ecuador is not currently designated under TPS, though some Democrats have been pushing the Biden administration to include the country in the program. There are about 180,000 Salvadoran and around 3,000 Nicaraguan TPS beneficiaries in the United States.
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