Thread: Residency Extended for Central Americans

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060222/ap_ ... _residency

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer
Wed Feb 22, 5:40 PM ET



WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has decided to extend special temporary U.S. residency for Central Americans for another 12 months, a spokeswoman for Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (news, bio, voting record) said Wednesday.

The decision means hundreds of thousands of Central Americans will not have to return home when their Temporary Protected Status ends next month.

Alex Cruz, a press aide to Ros-Lehtinen, said the administration plans to announce the decision officially on Friday, but Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., sent out a news release Wednesday after she was informed of the decision by the White House.

"We are just letting our community people know because there are so many folks who depend on TPS," Cruz said.

The U.S. provided temporary legal residence and authority to work in this country to Nicaraguans and Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to Salvadorans following a devastating earthquake in 2001. That status has been renewed several times.

The residency was due to expire this year amid criticism that the program was never meant to be permanent.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Joanna Gonzalez and a White House spokesman declined comment because an official announcement had not been made.

But Central American leaders and several members of Congress have been pushing for a renewal. Immigrants and their advocates say allowing the special status to expire would devastate not only these individuals but also their families — and the Central American nations — who count on the billions of dollars the immigrants earn in the United States and send home.

Salvadoran President Tony Saca is scheduled to visit Washington Friday.

Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement that without a renewal of the special residency, the Central Americans would "face deportation back to a country where they may encounter violence, civil unrest or a homeland still recuperating from natural disasters."

Is this for real? How did this slip by us?

These natural disasters happened 5 and 8 years ago.

But Central American leaders and several members of Congress have been pushing for a renewal. Immigrants and their advocates say allowing the special status to expire would devastate not only these individuals but also their families — and the Central American nations — who count on the billions of dollars the immigrants earn in the United States and send home.

I see the light now! Money
Central American nations don't want them back because they are getting too much money from them and members of Congress want them to stay because they are cheap labor. So they stay another year and siphon billions more out of the US economy.

Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement that without a renewal of the special residency, the Central Americans would "face deportation back to a country where they may encounter violence, civil unrest or a homeland still recuperating from natural disasters."

Yeah....life is tough, they are probably more likely to get killed in a car wreck here.

Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement that without a renewal of the special residency, the Central Americans would "face deportation back to a country where they may encounter violence, civil unrest or a homeland still recuperating from natural disasters."

Them facing deportation where they may encounter violence is alot better than them staying here to conduct violence on us. How many of these Central Americans who were granted another amnesty members of MS-13? Oh and those natural disasters were 5-8 years ago. Get over it.

When idiots get this country filled to the brim, reckon where they'll send us US citizens? Maybe to the moon?

I mentioned this some time ago. Posted the news article about it. But I figure they probably wouldn't be able to find them because they didn't keep track of them anyway.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... 6206.story

Thousands allowed to stay year longer

By Vanessa Blum
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 24 2006

At most, the week brought a temporary victory for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status.

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security announced a 12-month extension of a federal program that prevents the deportation of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. The program had been set to expire as early as July for some.

The reprieve means one more year those affected can live and work legally in the United States and their children can attend public schools.

But the 12-month extension does not end the uncertainty.

For Yolany Concepción Ramírez of Lake Worth, the prospect raises painful memories of her first years in the United States after moving from Honduras in the mid-1990s. Ramírez, 40, said before receiving TPS, she lived in fear of deportation and rarely left the home where she worked as a live-in maid. She referred to herself in those years as "una encerrada" or someone who's locked in. Ramírez today shares a sunny apartment with her brother and daughter Alejandra, 5.

She makes $7 an hour at a Kwik Shop Food Store.

"At least we have one more year to sort things out," Ramírez said. "The year will pass and the same anxiety will come around again. At least I don't feel I have my back against the wall."

Temporary Protected Status was granted to Honduras and Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch ripped through Central America in 1998. The status was extended to El Salvador in 2001 after a series of severe earthquakes. The program's one-year renewal covers about 225,000 Salvadorans, 75,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans in the United States.

While the protection has been extended periodically with little discussion, its renewal this year was not guaranteed, causing apprehension among immigrants.

The announcement from the Bush administration coincided with a visit by Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca to the United States. Saca, who will meet today with President Bush, had pressured the White House for another extension.

Immigrant advocates say they now will push for reform that would give those with Temporary Protected Status a way to remain in the United States permanently.

They argue that ending the protection would drive thousands of people underground who now pay taxes and live mainstream lives.

In addition, deporting the thousands of Central Americans who have settled in the United States would be expensive and disrupt the agriculture, restaurant and construction industries that rely on immigrant labor.

Critics of Temporary Protected Status expressed dismay over the extension, saying it creates a backdoor to legal immigration.

"My real problem is the dishonesty of it," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. "It proves once again there is nothing temporary about Temporary Protected Status."

A grant of Temporary Protected Status gives safe haven to immigrants from countries devastated by armed conflict or environmental disasters. Since being created by Congress in 1990, the status has been offered to about 10 nations; seven are still covered.

"Why admit people with TPS if you know they're never going to leave," said Ira Mehlman, communications director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Poorer countries often welcome the status because it stops the flow of deportees back into regions that cannot sustain them. What's more, workers living in the United States send billions of dollars home annually, which helps to keep shaky economies afloat.

According to Carlos Siercke, Honduras' consul general in Miami, Honduran immigrants in the United States send more than $1.7 billion home each year, making up the second-largest source of revenue for the country.

Though Temporary Protected Status is not intended as a permanent measure, in time immigrants become rooted in new lives. They find jobs. They buy homes. They start families.

María Elena Lazo, 28, a waitress at Oakland Park's La Molienda restaurant, moved to the United States from El Salvador in 2001. She lives with her four brothers near Hallandale. Every month, they send $500 to their mother in El Salvador.

"The only reason we are working and living here is because of TPS," Lazo said during the Thursday lunch shift. "There are simply no work opportunities in El Salvador."

It's not only those covered by Temporary Protected Status who fear the amnesty will one day be revoked.

María Magdalena Gallegos, 45, who owns La Molienda, moved to the United States from El Salvador in 1979 and is a U.S. citizen. All 10 of her employees are under temporary protected status.

"I didn't want to lose them," Gallegos said. "When the debate over TPS started heating up, we were all following it week by week. It was very worrying."

Saca, El Salvador's president, thanked the Bush administration for extending TPS to immigrants from his country.

"We are talking about human beings ... who have the desire to earn their living with dignity," he said.

Oscar Alvarez of Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center said efforts by Saca and new Honduran President Manuel Zelaya were key in convincing the Bush administration to renew the program.

"These are countries that are very friendly to the United States. It is extremely important from a political point of view to help the stability of those countries," Alvarez said. "They are small countries. They're poor countries. But we need them,"

To Alvarez, the most important benefit of the 12-month extension is that recipients will be in place if Congress passes proposed legislation creating a guest worker program.

Alvarez's group supports a bill sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., which provides a way for Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries to become permanent residents. A rival proposal by Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., does not include such a program. Under Sensenbrenner's measure, if Temporary Protected Statuswere not renewed, those currently covered would face deportation.

"A year from now I'll be wondering what's going to happen the next time around," said Ela Hernández, 21, a Honduran-born student at Florida International University waiting to hear whether she has been accepted to law school.

Staff Writer Madeline Baró Diaz contributed to this report.

Vanessa Blum can be reached at vbblum@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4605. Tal Abbady can be reached at tabbady@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6624.

Did anyone really expect Bush to send back over 300,000 GUESTS? If he cant be trusted to send them away after they have been here over 5 years, what do you think he is going to do with 12-20 million more? IMPEACH THE IDIOT BEFORE OUR NATION GETS COMPLETELY RUINED!!