IWS Documented News INTERNATIONAL

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

 

Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues

Ruth Ellen Wasem, Specialist in Immigration Policy

Karma Ester, Information Research Specialist

September 9, 2010

http://opencrs.com/document/RS20844/2010-09-09/download/1013/

[full-text, 10 pages]

 

Summary

When civil unrest, violence, or natural disasters erupt in spots around the world, concerns arise

over the safety of foreign nationals from these troubled places who are in the United States.

Provisions exist in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to offer temporary protected status

(TPS) or relief from removal under specified circumstances. A foreign national who is granted

TPS receives a registration document and an employment authorization for the duration of TPS.

 

The United States currently provides TPS or deferred enforced departure (DED) to over 300,000

foreign nationals from a total of seven countries: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia,

Nicaragua, Somalia, and Sudan. Liberians have had relief from removal for the longest period,

first receiving TPS in March 1991 following the outbreak of civil war.

 

The devastation caused by the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti prompted calls for the

Administration of President Barrack Obama to grant TPS to Haitians in the United States at the

time of the earthquake. The scale of current humanitarian crisis—estimated thousands of Haitians

dead and reported total collapse of the infrastructure in the capital city of Port au Prince—led the

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to announce on January 13, 2010, that it is temporarily

halting the deportation of Haitians. On January 15, 2010, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano

granted TPS to Haitians in the United States at the time of the earthquake.

 

Under the INA, the executive branch grants TPS or relief from removal. Congress, however, has

also provided TPS legislatively. Legislation pertaining to TPS has been introduced in the 111th

Congress.

 

Contents

Background ...............................................................................................................................1

Humanitarian Migrants ...............................................................................................................1

Temporary Protected Status.........................................................................................................2

Other Blanket Forms of Relief ....................................................................................................3

Nationalities Receiving Temporary Protections ...........................................................................3

Issues.........................................................................................................................................4

Haitians ...............................................................................................................................4

Other Nations Affected by Natural Disasters .........................................................................5

Liberians..............................................................................................................................5

Central Americans.................................................................................................................6

Peruvians and Colombians ....................................................................................................6

Adjustment of Status.............................................................................................................6

Legislation in the 111th Congress .................................................................................................7

Tables

Table 1. Countries Whose Nationals in the United States Currently Benefit from

Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure..................................................4

Contacts

Author Contact Information ........................................................................................................7

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

****************************************
Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
****************************************