Confusion over protected status leaves employers and Salvadoran immigrants scrambling
-
asserted
Confusion → protect → employers
- With a crucial deadline passed and no clear decision on Temporary Protected Status, 170,000 Salvadoran immigrants nationwide remain in legal limbo, including 36,000 in California.
asserted
immigrants → pass → California
Some Salvadoran TPS holders have already been fired, while others were reinstated after the federal government announced that their work authorization continues for now.
asserted
authorization → fire → ?
- The Trump administration had already ended TPS protections for Haitians and other immigrants.
asserted
administration → end → Haitians
Thousands of Salvadoran immigrants nationwide faced uncertainty after the federal government failed to decide by a Wednesday deadline whether to extend or terminate their longtime temporary protections against deportation.
asserted
government → face → deportation
Those protections, known as Temporary Protected Status or TPS, allow immigrants to obtain work permits and by Thursday some Salvadorans had already been fired from their jobs.
asserted
Salvadorans → know → jobs
Others who had been let go were reinstated after the Trump administration clarified that an announcement on TPS for Salvadorans would come “at the appropriate time” and that they would retain work authorization in the meantime.
asserted
they → let → meantime
Employers also expressed uncertainty about whether the statement was enough to legally keep Salvadoran employees on their payroll.
asserted
statement → express → payroll
Those who lost their jobs worked across the U.S. in construction, at hotels and as janitors.
asserted
who → lose → janitors
Some took the announcement that work authorizations remained in place — made late Wednesday by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — as a cause for hope, while others saw it as prolonged mental torture.
asserted
others → take → torture
Asked for further guidance on Thursday, Homeland Security sent a link to the USCIS website.
asserted
Security → ask → website
Advocates with the National TPS Alliance distributed a letter including the administration’s announcement for TPS holders to share with their employers and stating that “any decision to terminate could not take effect for a minimum of 60 days.”
uncertain
decision → distribute → days
The letter seemed to help, as advocates reported that some fired employees had been able to return to work.
asserted
employees → seem → work
Not everyone was reinstated.
asserted
everyone → reinstate → ?
Jose Ramirez reported to his construction job in Santa Monica for the last time on Wednesday.
asserted
Ramirez → report → Wednesday
The 63-year-old had been legally working in the U.S. since 2001, when TPS was first extended to Salvadoran immigrants.
asserted
TPS → work → immigrants
He had been in the country for six years before that, and constantly struggled to find stable work.
asserted
He → struggle → work
He’d dedicated the last 25 years to construction, during which he fathered three daughters and set roots in Compton.
asserted
he → dedicate → Compton
Still, his boss said Ramirez could no longer present for work Thursday.
uncertain
Ramirez → say → work
“I’ve worked on buildings that reach the skies of Los Angeles,” Ramirez said.
asserted
Ramirez → work → Angeles
“I’ve contributed economically and lent my labor to this great country.”
asserted
I → contribute → country
The Department of Homeland Security has not yet announced whether it will end or extend Temporary Protected Status for some 170,000 Salvadorans, including 36,000 in California.
asserted
it → announce → California
Ramirez’s boss said his job would be available to him, but he’d need to show proof of an active work permit.
asserted
he → say → permit
A notice or a letter is not enough, Ramirez said.
asserted
Ramirez → say → ?
The USCIS announcement was “a ray of hope that they will give us an extension,” Ramirez said.
asserted
Ramirez → give → extension
“But, it’s just not certain.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
Anything can happen.
asserted
Anything → happen → ?
We’re just praying to God that the government will make it official.”
asserted
it → pray → God
Karina, 42, who has been a custodian at a university in Houston for 18 years, said she panicked when a human resources representative called to say she wouldn’t be able to return to work.
asserted
she → say → work
Karina asked The Times not to include her last name or the name of the university where she works out of concern for her employment.
asserted
she → ask → employment
She said her job pays for half of her daughter’s college tuition and the health insurance of both of her children.
asserted
job → say → children
She also pays for her mother’s kidney disease medication in El Salvador.
asserted
She → pay → Salvador
Given the uncertainty, the university gave Karina one month of unpaid leave, she said.
asserted
she → give → leave
But after the USCIS announcement, the representative called her back Thursday and said she could return to work the next day.
uncertain
she → call → work
Karina said she owns a house, has always paid taxes and never relied on government assistance.
asserted
she → say → assistance
She said she was grateful for the reprieve, albeit momentary.
asserted
she → say → reprieve
“I have my whole life here,” she said of the U.S.
asserted
she → have → U.S.
“Over there, I have nothing.”
asserted
I → have → nothing
Ending TPS would be a shock to El Salvador’s economy, where remittances from Salvadorans in the U.S. make up nearly a quarter of the nation’s GDP — nearly $10 billion last year.
asserted
remittances → end → GDP
In 2019, President Nayib Bukele, an ally of President Trump, publicly called on the U.S. to extend TPS for Salvadoran immigrants.
asserted
Bukele → call → immigrants
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
