The Trump administration is ending a protected status program for thousands of Nicaraguan immigrants. The administration is removing some 5-thousand Nicaraguans from their Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which shields them from deportation.
These will have until January 2019 to leave the country or seek some other form of legal residency in the U.S. (by visas, etc). Meanwhile, the administration is extending protections for 86,000 Hondurans until July 2018. But they shouldn’t get too comfy – the Feds could decide to end their protected status at that time, as well.
Immigrants from Nicaragua and Hondurans were granted protected status in 1999 because of the devastation brought by Hurricane Mitch the year before. Under the TPS program, they’re allowed to live and work in the United States, but there is no path to citizenship. DHS Acting Secretary Elaine Duke has given Nicaraguan TPS recipients the 2019 deadline so that they can either arrange their affairs and leave the country or obtain legal status through a different visa category.
Source: The Hill