Today the DHS announced that it would be ended temporary immigration status for over 250,000 Salvadorians. TPS was granted to the Central American nation after it was struck by a deadly earthquake in 2001.
Since then tens of thousands of Salvadorians have resided in the US for 17 years without a pathway to permanent residency.
In November, the US decided to end TPS for Nicaragua but they extended it for 6 more months for Honduran recipients.
All of this raises a few eyebrows when you examine the politics of these nations a bit closer. Nicaragua and El Salvador are lead by far left socialist and Marxist affiliated presidents, Daniel Ortega and Salvador Sánchez Cerén respectively.
Meanwhile Honduras is lead by the right wing and staunch US ally, Juan Orlando Hernandez. The small TPS expansion was done in silence as DHS secretary Elaine Duke never formally announced the extension and it also came as Hondurans were going to soon head to the ballots in a tight election over a unprecedented re-election of Juan Orlando against Salvador Nasralla, leader of a leftist coalition backed by the ousted former president, Manuel Zelaya and Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro.
Current president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez (right) and defeated leftist candidate Salvador Nasralla (left)
Orlando won the election but many allegations of voter fraud have been raised against him. Coincidentally, after the election the US immediately recognized the rags-to-riches businessman and not too long after that, Honduras voted in support of Trump‘s decision to move the US embassy of Israel to Jerusalem at the UN Assembly. El Salvador and Nicaragua were against the US.
While Trump’s DACA deal is a matter of domestic policy, TPS has a wider geopolitical role to play in this administrations policy.
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