May 4, 2018 - Politics & Policy

50,000 Hondurans to lose protected status in U.S.

Stef W. Kight

Department of Homeland Security logo. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Trump administration has announced temporary protected status (TPS) for Hondurans, a status which has safeguarded more than 50,000 Hondurans following a devastating hurricane in 1999, will end on January 5, 2020, first reported by the New York Times and since confirmed by Axios.

Big picture: The Department of Homeland Security has already ended these permits for 200,000 Salvadorans, 50,000 Haitians, 9,000 Nepalese and thousands of Nicaraguans and Sudanese. DHS has determined the condition in Honduras has improved enough to warrant the end of the TPS.

The details: The DHS announced today that "[b]ased on careful consideration of available information... Secretary [Nielsen] determined that the disruption of living conditions in Honduras from Hurricane Mitch that served as the basis for its TPS designation has decreased to a degree that it should no longer be regarded as substantial. Thus, as required under the applicable statute, the current TPS designation must be terminated."

The agency added, "[t]o allow for an orderly transition, the effective date of the termination of TPS for Honduras will be delayed 18 months... [which] will also provide time for Honduras to prepare for the return and reintegration of its citizens."

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50,000 Hondurans to lose protected status in U.S.

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