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Legislative Principles & Proposals

The National TPS Alliance formed on June 22, 2017 with the sole purpose of creating a body of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders who can organize and advocate on their own behalf. TPS holders must be able to speak and organize for themselves, and form their own alliances with other groups and individuals in the broader immigrant rights movement.

Legistlative Principles

  • The ability to adjust to Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status.
  • The ability to adjust status without having to depart from the U.S. even if entered without inspection.
  • The inclusion of all people that had TPS and were originally eligible for the program,even if they have failed to continue to maintain their registration current, or if their TPS status has been revoked.
  • A “clean” TPS bill that does not attach increased border security provisions, funding for a border wall, the further militarization of the borders in other countries, bio-metrics, or funding for increased detention and deportation of migrants and asylum seekers.
  • The inclusion of all past and present TPS nationalities.
  • Legislation should protect all TPS beneficiaries from administrative sanctions or other restrictions placed on specific countries.

Our Requests of Members of Congress

  1. Urge the Administration to extend TPS for 18 months for all recipient countries, with an emphasis on those with upcoming renewal/termination deadlines.
  2. Champion, sponsor, support legislation that grants permanent residency to TPS holders.
  3. Urge the Administration to fulfill its promise and process the current Central America Minor Program applications for both parole and refugee status. The majority of the applicants are the children of TPS beneficiaries.

Current Legislative Fixes

There are a total of five congressional bills (5 in the House, and 1 in the Senate) that have been introduced this term that are strong solutions for the TPS crisis.

Only American Promise Act of 2017 (H.R. 4253) by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and the SECURE Act (S. 2144) by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) allow LPR status for all affected groups even if country no longer has TPS designation at time of enactment.

  • The ESPERER Act of 2017 (H.R. 4184) by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) allows for permanent residency, but it only covers TPS holders from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua.
  • Bipartisan bill ASPIRE TPS Act 2017 (H.R. 4384) by Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) codifies TPS and gives a provisional status lasting 6 years and LPR onl2A_TPS Legislative Comparison Chart_MARKED FEB2018 ENGLISHy if the person can prove extreme hardship.
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