US poised to end Hondurans’ special immigration status

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration is expected to end special immigration status granted to nearly 60,000 Hondurans after a devastating hurricane two decades ago.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security faces a Friday deadline to renew the Hondurans’ temporary protected status. Ending it would give them until next year to leave the U.S. or obtain legal residency other ways.

Around 437,000 immigrants from countries affected by extreme violence or disasters had enjoyed temporary protected status. The Homeland Security Department under Trump has discontinued that status for nearly all of those groups, including people from Sudan, Nicaragua, Nepal, Haiti, and El Salvador.

The president’s supporters note the protections were never meant to be permanent. Immigrant advocates argue that revoking them will simply drive the majority of the people affected underground.