Trump is Canceling Temporary Protected Status for Immigrants, says Jim Boland

Jim Boland says Trump is canceling Temporary Protected Status for Immigrants, and that’s bad news.

“Abruptly ending Temporary Protected Status is inhumane and dangerously bad economic policy,” he stated. “As an Irish immigrant myself, I care deeply about our immigration system. It is broken, and badly needs to be reformed.”

In 1990, Congress enacted a law to provide temporary immigration relief for people from countries facing armed conflict, national disasters, and other extraordinary circumstances. Right now, the U.S. provides this status to more than 300,000 foreign nationals from ten countries.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) immigrants are lawful, have work permits, and undergo background checks every 18 months. They also pay taxes, own homes, are parents, and are vital to many industries — along with contributing around $6.9 billion to Social Security.
Despite this, Trump has attempted to roll back the TPS program and an ongoing court case still threatens TPS recipients’ legal statuses.

“More than 23% of male TPS holders work in construction. We’ll need their expertise and experience if Congress moves forward on a comprehensive infrastructure proposal. By telling these workers they must leave the country, the administration is threatening 100,000 American construction jobs,” Boland said. “Our lawmakers must come together to find a solution that fixes our broken immigration system.”