The Trump Administration has announced that immigrants from El Salvador have lost their protection to stay in the United States. In 2001, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was granted to citizens of El Salvador after the country was struck with two major earthquakes that left many with nowhere to go. Their protection will expire from Sept. 9, 2019 on, leaving over 200,000 immigrants without legal residence in the U.S.

The protection allowed for immigrants to obtain work permits without being a citizen of the nation. Many El Salvadorians have expressed their fears by stating how their livelihoods are threatened as they are faced with the decision to either find a way to remain in the U.S. legally or get sent back to one of the most violent and dangerous countries in Latin America. The El Salvadorian population in the U.S. has doubled since 1990 due to the leniency of the TPS that was set in place. According to a report by Doctors Without Borders in 2017, 40% of Salvadorans that have migrated to the United States came because of the rising gang violence in El Salvador after the effects of the earthquakes in 2001 have passed.

For a country to be eligible to be in TPS, certain conditions need to be met. The conditions include: The nation having ongoing armed conflict such as a civil war, an environmental disaster such as earthquakes or hurricanes, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions among others. However, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claims that El Salvador is no longer in a state of emergency causing the executive decision to end El Salvador’s TPS. The decision was made final after Jan. 8, 2018 when The Department of Homeland Security decided not to renew their TPS.

President of the United States, Donald Trump, himself has referred to counties such as El Salvador and various Caribbean and African Nations as “sh**hole countries”, questioning why the United States would accept people from these parts of the world instead of places such as Norway. Many in El Salvador were outraged by the way Mr. Trump referred to the country and demanded that their nation be treated with more respect. The President of El Salvador, Sánchez Cerén, has expressed his distaste over the administration’s decision to end El Salvador’s TPS, stating that he has “vigorously rejected” it.

“I believe that politicians, including our president, need to better comprehend the consequences of their actions. Uprooting 200,000 people is not going to resolve any issues, rather it will negatively affect economies of towns and hurt businesses on a local level,”  senior João Ribeiro said. “These people have spent 17 years in the United States, made new lives, [and] started families. Steps should be taken by our representatives to provide an accelerated path for these immigrants to obtain resident statuses so they can continue to prosper under the Star Spangled Banner. This is an issue, among others, that should empower students to call their local representatives and voice their beliefs.”

In the end, it is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security decision to end El Salvador’s, so overtime we will be able to see the effects of this decision, and how it affects us locally and the United States as a whole.