Immigrants living in U.S. under embattled federal program see hope on horizon

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Steve Marcus

Nery Martinez poses with his wife Rosa Ramos in their backyard in Las Vegas Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. Martinez lost his job as a bartender in the COVID-19 shutdown and is waiting to be called back.

Sat, Dec 12, 2020 (2 a.m.)

Nery Martinez and his wife were born in the same town in El Salvador, but they built their lives together in Las Vegas.

They remain here under a federal program President Donald Trump has been trying to kill for thousands of immigrants.

But with a recent court victory and the election of Joe Biden as president, people like Martinez have something that’s been in short supply lately.

“It’s a hope. It’s a big hope,” Martinez said, voicing optimism that the new administration will be able to offer those living under Temporary Protected Status a more permanent solution.

Biden’s campaign policies would protect TPS holders from being returned to unsafe countries, offer those who have been in the U.S. for an extended time a path to citizenship and add Venezuela to the list of covered countries.

Martinez, who has been in the U.S. for 20 years and met his wife, Rosa Ramos, here, said he expects Biden to make good on those promises.

“We’re going to make sure that he doesn’t forget about us,” he said.

The TPS program, established by Congress in 1990, is available to people from countries experiencing issues including armed conflict or environmental disasters. It protects recipients from deportation while allowing them to work in the United States.

The program covers some 400,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan. It was recently extended until at least October 2021 after a court blocked efforts to start winding it down.

“TPS has been a lifeline to so many individuals seeking safety and stability as their home countries face devastating and extraordinary challenges,” U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said in a statement.

The court ruling comes on the heels of the full restoration of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, another policy targeted for dismantling by Trump that allows certain undocumented immigrants who came to the country at a young age to remain.

Gov. Steve Sisolak called the extension of both programs welcome news for the state and program recipients “who are our friends, our family, our neighbors and call Nevada home.”

But, he cautioned, there is “still much work to be done and I continue to urge Congress to finally pass permanent protections for these integral members of our communities. Not only is it the smart thing to do, it’s the right thing to do.”

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