The government was either supposed to approve an extension to temporary protected status for hundreds of Iowans from El Salvador by Sept. 9, or deny it.
They haven’t done either—and the confusion is leading to workers being laid off.
“ I don’t think anything else can be deduced from this except to just create confusion and continue to create fear,” said Jody Mashek, co-legal director at the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice. ”There’s no other plausible explanation for why you wouldn’t just give a straight answer.”
She’s referring to a decision—or, rather, no decision at all—by the US government regarding whether to extend temporary protected status, or TPS, for El Salvador workers.
The government could have extended TPS by the deadline of Sept. 9. Or they could have denied it. Instead, there’s a two-line message on the government’s immigration website saying a decision “will be made at the appropriate time.”
“Like, what is the appropriate time?” Mashek asked. “Nobody knows what this means.”
Without a decision, “(Salvadorans) are in limbo right now,” said Iowa MMJ organizer Maria Acosta. “They are very scared about it.”
Here since 1990
TPS was actually created for Salvadorans in the Immigration Act of 1990, and later expanded to 17 other countries dealing with war, violence, or natural disaster destruction in their home countries.
An estimated several hundred Salvadorans have been living and working in Iowa since then, due to war and, later, when two deadly earthquakes in 2001 devastated much of the country.
“Salvadorans have had TPS forever,” Mashek said. “They are members of our community, have been law-abiding individuals, and have given it their all for more than a quarter of a century.”
Now, all they have to try and keep their jobs, or renew their IDs, is a print-off from the government’s website saying they “retain work authorization” and backing letters from advocacy organizations.
That’s not enough for some bosses.
“Workers are telling me that employers are firing them because they don’t have an updated physical permit in hand,” Acosta told me.
And that’s not even the worst prospect: When I asked Mashek if Salvadorans were now worried they or their loved ones would be picked up by ICE, she didn’t hesitate:
“Absolutely,” she said. “Terrified. Terrified.”
Iowa MMJ provided a statement from the Iowa daughter of TPS holders from El Salvador that says, in part,
“I wish more than anything that I could give my parents the certainty they deserve. Instead, I have to live with the fear of what could happen to them and to our family because there is no meaningful path forward available to us.”
The woman told Iowa MMJ to keep her anonymous due to fear of retaliation.
How to help
Mashek says many TPS holders don’t have a path to permanent residency here, noting that’s something Congress could change if they wanted to do so.
“I guarantee that if they had the opportunity to apply for their permanent residency, no matter the cost, no matter how many hurdles, they would have all done it long ago,” she said.
She encouraged folks to contact their elected officials, particularly if they employ Salvadorans.
“We’ve talked to some of those employers over the years who were like, ‘What can I do to help?’” Mashek said. “If you want to help, then you need to contact your elected officials as a business owner, and you need to tell them what you feel.”
