Ending TPS will affect more than Salvadorans

The Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 200,000 Salvadorans living in the United States will affect many more lives than just those living under the statute, said researchers at the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University.

Those who employ the Salvadorans, as well as the U.S. economy as a whole, will also feel the wide-ranging effects, Mason researchers said.

“These are workers, taxpayers, and homeowners who have made enormous contributions to local economies,” said Michele Waslin, project coordinator for the institute. “El Salvador is also likely to experience an economic hit as it tries to reintegrate thousands of workers while losing the income from remittances that it has relied upon.”

Salvadorans who have lived in the United States since at least 2001, when TPS was set up in response to a series of earthquakes that rattled El Salvador, have until Sept. 9, 2019, to leave the United States, find a way to obtain a green card or face deportation.

James Witte, director of the Institute for Immigration Research, said the potentially massive drain in workers, the majority of whom are working legally, would only hurt the U.S. economy, which is at virtually full employment.

“As employers are struggling to fill new jobs, one has to wonder how employers are going to be able to fill any positions vacated by Salvadorans losing TPS,” Witte said.

Michele Waslin can be reached at 703-993-5833 or mwaslin@gmu.edu.

James Witte can be reached at 703-993-2993 or jwitte@gmu.edu.

For more information, contact Buzz McClain at 703-727-0230 or bmcclai2@gmu.edu.

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