A bipartisan group of Florida members of Congress called on the Biden administration Friday to “redesignate and extend” Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian protection that shields people from deportation, to eligible Nicaraguan already residing in the United States.
“We strongly urge you ... to protect tens of thousands of Nicaraguan men, women, and children who would face great risk to their safety should they return to Nicaragua at this time,” a letter from the representatives to President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
They cited Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s violent crackdown of political opposition in recent years and Nicaragua’s precarious social, political and economic circumstances.
“The combined effect of the Ortega regime’s socio-political oppression, failed response to the COVID pandemic, and back-to-back hurricanes in early 2020 crippled economic opportunity of the already second-poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere,” the letter states.
The development comes days after the Department of Homeland Security extended Venezuela’s Temporary Protected Status another 18 months for those already eligible, around 343,000 people.
Rep. Charlie Crist, who is running for Florida governor, spearheaded the letter. He recently visited Miami to advocate for the redesignation and extension of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, meeting with activists from both nations.
South Florida Reps. Frederica Wilson, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Maria Elvira Salazar, all signed the letter. So did Orlando-area members of Congress Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy, as well as Tampa legislator Kathy Castor. The same group had signed a recent letter, led by Soto asking Biden and Mayorkas to redesignate Venezuela, which would have made more people from the South American nation eligible for TPS, and which did not occur.
The United States first offered TPS for Nicaraguans after 1998 Hurricane Mitch devastated the country and killed more than 10,000 people across Central America. In December 2017, the Trump administration moved to end Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua after deeming the protection was no longer warranted.
“The social and economic conditions affected by Hurricane Mitch have stabilized, and people are able to conduct their daily activities without impediments directly related to damage from the storm,” read the termination notice for Nicaragua at the time.
TPS beneficiaries sued the federal government over the decision. A federal district court blocked it from ending TPS protections for Nicaraguan, Sudanese, Salvadorean and Haitian nationals. An appeals court ruled, but did not implement, a reversal on the injunction, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Although in legal limbo, that means TPS for Nicaraguans will continue “as long as a preliminary injunction … remains in effect,” says the agency, However, it warns that “DHS may terminate the validity of relevant TPS-related documentation” if the court order went into effect.
The Trump administration also ended Haiti’s TPS program in 2017, a policy also contested in the courts. The Biden administration redesignated the Caribbean nation twice last year, first in May and then in August following the July assassination of former president Jovenel Moïse.
A public records analysis from the Temporary Protected Status Advocacy Working Group revealed that as of November 2018, about 4,500 Nicaraguans were TPS beneficiaries. Of those, 45.3% lived in Florida, the highest percentage in any state. At least 60,000 additional Nicaraguans already in the U.S. would benefit from a redesignation, according to the letter from federal Florida lawmakers.
“Given the growing political, economic, and human rights crises, we strongly urge you to redesignate and extend the original 1998 TPS designation and to protect tens of thousands of Nicaraguan men, women, and children who would face great risk to their safety should they return to Nicaragua at this time,” the letter concluded.
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