Immigrant rights activists and community leaders in San Francisco have called on the US government to extend the program that gives temporary protected status to immigrants from 13 nations, which are affected by environmental disasters or war. There are around 55,000 beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in California, with somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 believed to live in San Francisco.
Supervisor, Hilary Ronen introduced a resolution on Tuesday, to urge national leaders to extend the program for the 13 countries that currently hold TPS. Ronen also wants the introduction of a pathway to US citizenship for some individuals and says that changes to countries in Central America could be made as early as next week, making the issue a priority.
The resolution follows the announcement in May, by the federal government, that immigrants from Haiti who currently have TPS may lose that status and be sent back to their home country as early as January 2018. This is despite the country still not having fully recovered from the devastating earthquake that took place in 2010.
El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua are also among the 13 nations protected by TPS, which is reviewed and extended every 18 months by the federal government. They are also approaching their next expiration date during the spring of 2018. Although local TPS holders cannot be given special protections by the resolution, Ronen hopes it will result in support from and solidarity with other communities and will encourage the government to extend the program again.