Visa Lawyer Blog

Articles Posted in Honduras

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The Washington Post recently reported that President Trump is expected to deliver a scathing speech on immigration this upcoming Tuesday October 30, 2018. The President’s speech will come just a week before the highly contested midterm elections, where more than 425 House seats are up for re-election.

Interestingly, the Post is reporting that President Trump is gearing up to invoke his executive power to prevent Central American migrants from applying for asylum at the Southwest border. Such a move would trigger constitutional challenges in federal court. However, as we know, the President and his administration have not shied away from controversy.

The President is eager to present his agenda to boost his approval ratings and encourage Republican voters to support GOP candidates in battleground states.

Earlier this month the President expressed his sentiments regarding an immigrant caravan consisting of more than 7,000 Central American migrants’ intent on reaching the U.S. border.

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After President Trump threatened to cut American funding to the country of Honduras, if the government did not stop an immigrant caravan from making its way to the United States, both the Honduran and Mexican governments acted immediately in a concerted effort to stop the caravan from reaching the southwest border.

The message was sent to the Honduran government via the President’s favor mode of communication; Twitter, “If the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!” tweeted the President.

Every fiscal year, the United States government sends millions in aid to the Honduran government. In fiscal year 2019, the United States plans to send Honduras $66 million in aid.

Following the president’s tweet, Guatemalan officials swiftly arrested the leader of the caravan and began the process of returning him to Honduras.

Mexican police have been deployed to the southern border ahead of the caravan’s arrival. It is estimated that approximately 1,500 Hondurans, including parents and toddlers, form part of the caravan.  Honduran officials have so far been unable to stop the caravan from crossing the border into Guatemala, where they will continue their long and perilous journey through Mexico and finally to the United States.

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TPS Updates: Re-Registration Period is Now Open for Hondurans with TPS

Current beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under the Honduras country designation, who wish to maintain their TPS benefits, such as ability to continue working in the United States through the official termination date of the TPS program on January 5, 2020, must re-register for TPS benefits between June 5, 2018 and August 6, 2018.

Re-registration instructions are now available on the USCIS TPS website.

Re-registration Procedure:

Applicants must file Form I-821 Application for Temporary Protected Status as well as Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, preferably at the same time, but applicants may also file Form I-765 separately at a later date.

New EADs with a January 5, 2020 expiration date will be issued to Honduran TPS beneficiaries who apply within the re-registration period ending on August 6, 2018. USCIS will make every effort to issue new EADs before current EADs expire, however there are no guarantees given the amount of time required to process TPS re-registration applications.

USCIS has automatically extended the expiration date on EADs issued under the TPS designation of Honduras for 180 days, through January 1, 2019. This extension applies to individuals who have EADs that expired on January 5, 2018 and applied for a new EAD during the last re-registration period but have not yet received a new EAD.

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Our fears have come true. On May 4, 2018, we reported that the Department of Homeland Security would be making an official announcement terminating the TPS designation for the country of Honduras. Shortly after our report, DHS published a formal announcement terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Honduras, with a delayed date of termination for a period of 18 months. The official date of termination will be January 5, 2020.

This means that nationals of Honduras living in the United States under TPS will have a period of 18 months to arrange for their departure from the United States or seek alternative legal status to remain lawfully present in the United States.

According to a statement released by DHS, the decision was made after the Secretary determined that “the disruption of living conditions in Honduras from Hurricane Mitch that served as the basis for the TPS designation” in 1999 were no longer substantial enough to justify continuation of the designation.

The report also claims that conditions in 1999 have greatly improved, and the country has made “substantial progress in post-hurricane recovery and reconstruction from the 1998 Hurricane Mitch.”

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Temporary Protected Status has come under vigorous attack by the Trump administration. As previously reported, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, appointed by President Trump has been instructed by the administration to scrutinize the TPS program closely to align with the President’s hard line stance on immigration. Within the last few months, the Department has mounted an aggressive attack on the TPS program, stripping El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Nepal of its TPS designation.

As readers may recall, during November of 2017, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that the TPS designation for Honduras would be extended for a period of 6 months from January 5, 2018 to the new expiration date of July 5, 2018, granting Hondurans under TPS an automatic extension. This extension was granted because the administration needed more information to determine whether the country’s designation would continue. As the new expiration date approaches, the day of reckoning may finally be here for nationals of Honduras under TPS.

According to reports released by the New York Times this afternoon, officials speaking on condition of anonymity have told reporters that the Trump administration has already decided to end the TPS designation for the country of Honduras, but has yet to formally announce the termination. The decision to terminate the TPS designation for Honduras is expected to be handed down on Friday.

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Yesterday, November 6, 2017, the acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Elaine Duke, announced her decision to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Nicaragua, with a delayed effective date of 12 months until the termination of that designation, giving Nicaraguans enough time to make preparations to either depart the United States or seek alternative lawful immigration status in the United States, before the designation officially terminates on January 5, 2019.

Furthermore, Duke announced that the TPS designation for Honduras will be automatically extended for six months “from the current January 5, 2018 expiration date to the new expiration date of July 5, 2018.” This automatic extension has been granted because additional information is necessary to determine whether conditions have changed in Honduras that would justify termination of  the country’s TPS designation.

According to Duke’s announcement, the decision to terminate the TPS designation for Nicaragua was made after it was determined that the conditions in Nicaragua have changed since the country’s original 1999 designation that no longer justify granting protected status to this class of individuals. Furthermore, because the Secretary received no formal request from the Nicaraguan government to extend TPS status, and there was no evidence to indicate that the Nicaraguan government could not adequately handle the return of Nicaraguan nationals, the TPS designation for Nicaragua was no longer justified.

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