The Trump Administration has extended permits that allow an estimated 200,000 people from El Salvador to work and live in the US until January 2021.
Salvadoreans were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) after earthquakes rocked the Central American nation in 2001.
Their status was due to expire in January 2020.
Salvadorean officials said the extension would give their fellow citizens in the US “breathing room”.
There have been conflicting statements from US officials as to whether the agreement constitutes an extension to Salvadoreans’ TPS or just an extension of their work permits.
The programme was created in 1990 and authorises immigrants from several countries to live and work in the US lawfully, regardless of whether they entered the country legally or not.
It is only granted to countries affected by armed conflict, environmental disaster or epidemics. Ten countries, from which there are more than 300,000 immigrants in the US, have been granted TPS protections since it was first signed into law by President George HW Bush.
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The Trump Administration has taken a hard stance on TPS, arguing that “temporary means temporary” and that TPS should not have been extended in cases where the original reason for granting it no longer applied.
This has created uncertainty and anguish among those living under TPS in the US, of which Salvadoreans are the largest group by far.
But the president’s attempt to end TPS has been challenged in the courts and currently remains blocked.
US Ambassador to El Salvador Ronald Johnson announced on Monday that “today in Washington, we signed an agreement which extends the TPS for the Salvadoreans for another year”.
But the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli, later tweeted a clarification which appeared to contradict what the ambassador had said.
Source: BBC
