Click HERE to advocate on behalf of TPS holders
Background
- The federal government has granted TPS to about 300,000 individuals, permitting them to stay in the U.S. because ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances prevented them from returning to their home countries safely. About 99 percent of TPS holders came from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti.
- Many TPS holders have lived in America for more than 20 years and have about 275,000 U.S. citizen children.
- The Trump administration has terminated the TPS designation for almost all of the countries.
Advocate for TPS Holders
Contacting your member of Congress and/or their staff is one of the most effective ways to share your views on the need to pass a permanent, legislative solution for TPS holders. Below is guidance on writing to or meeting with your Member of Congress and/or their staff about a legislative solution for TPS holders and Dreamers.
- Ask Your Senators and Representatives to Support a Solution for Dreamers and TPS Holders as Soon as Possible: This tool allows you to write to your Senators and Representatives and ask them to support Dreamers and TPS holders.
- Meet with Your Member of Congress: This document provides a guide for attending in-district or Washington, D.C. meetings with Senate and House offices. Click this link for a map of Capitol Hill.
Resources
Fact Sheet: Temporary Protected Status provides general information about TPS and the status of the currently designated countries.
Fact Sheet: Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) provides general information about Deferred Enforced Departure and a chart comparing the differences among TPS, DED, and Deferred Action.
Economic Benefits:
- TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti (who make up 99 percent of TPS holders) contribute a combined $4.5 billion in pre-tax wages or salary income annually to our nation’s gross domestic product. Total Social Security and Medicare contributions of those individuals is estimated at more than $6.9 billion over a decade.
- Infographic: The Economic Case for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) provides an overview of the negative effects removing TPS workers from the United States would have on our economy.
- Infographics: Dreamer and TPS Recipient Contributions focus on the contributions of Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients in seven states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.
Other Resources:
- Children of TPS join marchers in Washington by staging urgent play: “Will somebody please help me?”: a news story about how TPS is impacting U.S. citizen children.
- Florida and Texas business leaders support TPS holders: a press release about business leaders from Florida and Texas who sent letters to Florida legislators calling on them to urge the administration to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for El Salvador, Haiti and Honduras.
- Diverse support for Haitian TPS holders: a press release compiling statements of support for extending TPS protections for Haitians including Republican leaders, evangelical Christians and business leaders.
Key Legislation Pending in Congress
The following bill pending in Congress would provide a permanent, legislative solution for Dreamers, together with TPS and DED holders:
- The Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R. 6) introduced in March 2019 in the House.
In the previous Congress, a number of bills to address TPS were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. You can find a table summarizing the main provisions of a number of the bills here.