The Donald Trump administration is ending deportation protections for thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans living in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that protection for Hondurans in the U.S. was granted after Hurricane Mitch in 1998, but that the Honduran government has made “tremendous strides” since then to recover from the disaster, and that it is safe for Honduran nationals to return.
Using almost identical reasoning in a second announcement, DHS said the impacts of a natural disaster that hit Nicaragua in 1999 no longer exist, and that the environmental situation has improved enough that it is safe for Nicaraguan citizens to go home. It did not specify if it was the same disaster it referenced in the announcement for Honduras, despite Hurricane Mitch severely impacting both countries.
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Hurricane Mitch is one of the deadliest Atlantic storms on record — a Category 5 hurricane that ripped through Central America in October 1998, causing mass devastation.
Residents look through the remains of several businesses in Honduras that were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch after rising waters of the Choluteca River caused major flooding.
ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Getty Images
According to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, the hurricane led to 10,000 deaths as well as $40 million worth of damage in Florida.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said she had determined that the conditions in Honduras and Nicaragua no longer meet the temporary protected status statutory requirements and that her decision “restores integrity” to the U.S. immigration system.
“Temporary Protected Status was designed to be just that—temporary,” she added.
The policy provides deportation relief and work permits to people whose home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other extraordinary event but does not provide a path to citizenship or permanent residency.
The U.S. State Department currently warns Americans to reconsider travelling to Honduras due to crime and to Nicaragua due to the risk of wrongful detention, crime and limited health-care access.
“It is clear that the Government of Honduras has taken all of the necessary steps to overcome the impacts of Hurricane Mitch, almost 27 years ago,” Noem continued, adding that her department was on hand to facilitate the voluntary return of Nicaraguan and Honduran nationals to their respective countries.
Democrats and advocates for immigrants impacted by Trump’s sweeping deportation efforts have said that TPS enrollees could be forced to return to dangerous conditions and that U.S. employers depend on their labour.
Former president Joe Biden renewed TPS for Honduras and Nicaragua in 2023, saying the effects of Hurricane Mitch still reverberated and that political instability, economic issues and damage from other storms warranted extending the protections.
Under Trump, DHS is encouraging people from both nations to use its Customs and Border Protection CBP Home app to document their departure from the U.S. and to “take advantage” of a safe and secure way to leave with a complimentary plane ticket and a $1,000 exit bonus.
The action, effective Sept. 6, will end TPS for an estimated 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans who have had access to the legal status since 1999, according to a pair of Federal Register notices.
Trump has sought to end temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants in the U.S., including some who have lived and worked in the country legally for decades.
He has already moved to end TPS for 348,000 Venezuelans and 521,000 Haitians, as well as thousands from Afghanistan and Cameroon.
— With files from Reuters
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