Tuesday, November 26, 2013

In wake of typhoon, push is on for Temporary Protected Status for Filipinos

Posted by Ann Corcoran on November 25, 2013

Problem is, once granted the “temporary” right to live, work, get a drivers license legally in America they don’t go home!  About a hundred thousand illegal Salvadorans make that point daily—they’ve been here since 2001 under TPS status and whatever natural disaster gave them the right to stay has long since been forgotten.
Two peas in a pod! Senators McCain and Rubio want any legal or illegal Filipinos in US to get to stay!
Usually granted for 18 months, TPS designation is just extended and extended as we sawhere recently with Somali TPS.
If this lobbying push is successful anyone from the Philippines in the US legally (on a limited visa of some sort) or illegally can apply to stay under TPS and then when/if Congress passes so-called ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ they will get to stay forever!
From Global Nation (emphasis mine):
WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for undocumented Filipinos picked up bipartisan congressional support, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) urged the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant the status.
Currently allowed under immigration laws for countries impacted by a natural disaster resulting in a “substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions,” TPS will provide temporary immigration relief to undocumented Filipino immigrants currently residing in the US.
In a letter to DHS Acting Secretary Rand Beers, NaFFAA national chair Eduardo Navarra wrote that “this benefit will alleviate their fears of deportation to a devastated country and allow them to work and stay in the US temporarily. With this authorization, Filipino nationals can continue providing material and financial support to the homeland, especially at a time when they are in dire need of help.”
J.T. Mallonga, NaFFAA national vice chair and president of the Filipino American Legal and Defense Fund (FALDEF), explains that there are precedents where the US administration acted on similar requests.
“Following the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti two years ago, the US designated TPS to Haitian nationals, allowing them to continue living and working in the country for 18 months,” Mallonga said. “The same should be done to Filipinos, and it must be done soon.”
Other nationals from countries devastated by natural disasters, such as Honduras, Sudan and El Salvador, have also been granted TPS before.   [And, they are all still here! because even if TPS does expire, no one deports them!---ed]  >>more from Refugee Resettlement Watch<<

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