“A Sword of Damocles”: Salvadoran TPS Holders Are in Limbo as DHS Does Nothing

September 9 marked a critical day for the roughly 170,000 Salvadorans residing in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This humanitarian designation, typically granted to immigrants from crisis-ridden nations, was set to expire that day, potentially leaving one of the largest groups of TPS holders in the country vulnerable to losing their legal status and facing deportation.

However, the Trump administration surprised everyone by neither renewing nor terminating the protection for this population. Instead, the program's website now reads that an "announcement on El Salvador's TPS will be made at the appropriate time." The temporary respite, while reassuring, leaves these long-time TPS holders in a state of uncertainty.

As Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council succinctly put it, "with a sword of Damocles over their heads." José Palma, a coordinator with the National TPS Alliance, emphasized that "the only thing we know is that TPS for El Salvador is still alive and protecting people from detention and deportation," but added that "we are waiting for the official announcement on how long that protection is going to last."

The administration has yet to file a notice in the Federal Register, and under the statute, if the Secretary of Homeland Security does not decide to renew or terminate a TPS designation 60 days before the expiration date, the protection is automatically extended for six months. While advocates like Palma hope the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will follow this precedent, they remain concerned that Trump could still try to end TPS for El Salvador.

The administration has a history of targeting TPS for over a dozen countries, including Venezuela, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and recently gave the green light to terminate the protection for over 350,000 Haitians and Syrians. The Supreme Court's decision this year, which ruled that the DHS secretary's decisions about TPS aren't subject to judicial review, has only heightened worries among advocates that Trump might terminate TPS for El Salvador.

The plight of Salvadorans fleeing their country's violent, twelve-year civil war played a pivotal role in enacting the legislative framework for TPS. When Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1990, it aimed to address concerns about the inconsistent and politically biased practice of suspending deportations for certain nationalities.

Salvadorans, who were among the first to be granted TPS, became the beneficiaries of this humanitarian program. Although the original protection ended in 1992, El Salvador was designated for TPS again in 2001 due to devastating earthquakes. Abel Nuñez, executive director of the Central American Resources Center, noted that "it wouldn't exist without our community," highlighting how the Salvadoran community pushed for the creation of TPS.

Arnoldo Díaz, a young organizer who advocated for what would become TPS, vividly recalled his struggles in El Salvador under the oppressive government and his eventual escape to the United States in 1982. Díaz, now a US citizen, is deeply concerned about the current situation, stating that "keeping people in limbo like that is psychological torture to push people to self-deport."