AFTA is opposed to the Trump Administration’s decision to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) previously granted to more than 300,000 Central Americans who have made the United States their home over several decades. This decision will surely result in the trauma of forced separation for countless families and the needless destruction of thriving communities across the country.

The United States Congress established TPS in 1990, offering protection to those foreign nationals that had fled dangerous conditions resulting from armed conflict and/or “natural” disaster.  With the rescinding of TPS, individuals who, upon immigrating to the United States have become homeowners, opened businesses, actively participated in their communities and nurtured their American-born children will be subject to arrest and deportation.  Those deported will likely face dangers equal to if not worse than those they initially escaped, leaving their relatives (an estimated 273,000 children, and more than 30,000 married partners according to the Center for Migration Studies) with citizenship or legal residency to endure a relentless fear for the survival of their loved ones.

The predicted economic toll too, is staggering.  Check the Center for American Progress and The Immigrant Legal Resource Center for the details of what the deportation of these TPS holders will cost American taxpayers.  Additionally, TPS holders living in the United States frequently send money back to their families, ensuring that the economy in their native countries can survive.

AFTA calls on the Trump Administration to reverse its decision and extend TPS, thereby demonstrating a humanitarian commitment to the well-being of American families and communities—families whose members often include those who have entered the United States in pursuit of safety, and who contribute to the life, liberty and happiness of us all.

Sarah Berland, Family Policy and Human Rights Chair
Victoria Dickerson, President