By PAMELA CONSTABLE The Washington Post

Published: Jun 11, 2007

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'Temporary' Amnesty Shields Group Of Illegal Immigrants

WASHINGTON - Every 18 months, Jeremias Villalobos dutifully pays about $300 in fees, fills out several U.S. government forms and buys himself another 18 months of peace.

Since 1998, when the Riverdale, Md., truck driver applied for the "temporary" amnesty granted illegal immigrants from three Central American countries because of devastating earthquakes and hurricanes there, his right to remain here has almost expired - and then been extended - at least six times.

"I give thanks to God each time," said Villalobos, 40, a native of Honduras who gradually saved up enough money to buy a house and paint each room a favorite color while sending about $100 a month to the children he has not seen in a decade. "Only by staying here can I afford to send my daughter to school," he said. "If I were home, she might be working in the fields with me."

While Congress has struggled over what to do with the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, the Bush administration has kept renewing permission for 312,000 Central Americans to remain here under "temporary protected status."

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would extend the amnesty yet again, setting deadlines this summer for qualified immigrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador to register. The original rationale for the protection, the natural disasters of a decade ago, has long since passed, but U.S. officials said conditions in those countries had not improved enough that they could end the amnesty.

Diplomats from the region said last week that although collapsed bridges have been rebuilt and flattened crops replanted, the economies of the countries are still suffering and the largely impoverished populations remain heavily reliant on money sent from relatives working in the United States.

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