For Salvadorans, U.S. renews work permits (ILLEGAL ALIENS from El Salvador)

miami.com ^ | 01/06/2005 | ALFONSO CHARDY

[nanak]

Anguish in the Salvadoran community abated Wednesday evening when the federal immigration service said it had decided to renew the temporary work and residence permits of almost 250,000 Salvadoran migrants.

An official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the reason for renewing the permits was because El Salvador was still rebuilding after massive earthquakes that struck the country in 2001. The disaster provided the reason for granting 248,282 undocumented Salvadorans in the United States so-called Temporary Protected Status.

TPS permits enable undocumented foreign nationals to stay and work in the country for up to 18 months without fear of deportation. But the permits are not a path to permanent residence.

José Lagos, president of Honduran Unity and leading TPS advocate in the area, estimated that about 20 percent of the Salvadorans with temporary status live in South Florida. Lagos said the majority of Salvadoran TPS-holders are in the Washington, D.C., area and California.

The Salvadoran is the largest of the TPS programs in the United States after a similar one for about 100,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans.

The Citizenship and Immigration Services official said an announcement of the temporary permit renewal for Salvadorans would be made today in Washington, for an 18-month extension -- until Sept. 9, 2006.

[gubamyster]

ping

[DoughtyOne]

LOL 250,000 people are here four years after the 2001 earthquake, but we shouldn't think the work permits will allow them to stay indefinately. Does anyone here actually think we'll repatriate these people to El Salvador?

Well... NO!

[garandgal]

An official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the reason for renewing the permits was because El Salvador was still rebuilding after massive earthquakes that struck the country in 2001.

I would think that if they are "rebuilding" that there would be plenty of jobs. But, the government never lies....so I must be wrong....

[Brownie74]

I would think that if they are "rebuilding" that there would be plenty of jobs.

I bet they could use an extra 250,000 people down in El Salvador to help rebuild.

Does the government actually think we are as stupid as they are? Deport 'em!!

[rolling_stone]

Well now how many people affected by the great Tsunami will be reaching our shores asking for a similar break, one million, 5 million, 10 million?..insanity...

[dennisw]

This total bllsht. This is what is known as a rolling amnetsy. It's a de facto amnesty. These 3rd worlders never get deported.

Another sign of how stupid our immigration and deportation policies are. No one in DC gives a crap except for Tom Tancredo and a few who follow him.

[dagnabbit]

Illegal alien Amnesty without any input from Congress.

Nice trick.

How many Americans will die at the hands of the illegal alien MS-13 gang members who benefit from this Amnesty?

Bush's cowardly leftist policies at work again.

[Dante3]

This is outrageous. The names of the specific individuals responsible for this decision should be published and imformation about the posted. This follows upon finding of a link between El Salvedorians and El Qaida. In the DC area many of them have committed alos horrific crimes.

[Marine Inspector]

The Citizenship and Immigration Services official said an announcement of the temporary permit renewal for Salvadorans would be made today in Washington, for an 18-month extension -- until Sept. 9, 2006.

In 18 months they will get another extension and another after that. Washington will never make them leave.

[Dante3]

It's amazing that so many politicians support this since most of the voters oppose it. Are they sleeper agents? Blackmailed or bribed? Or just hate this country?

[Marine Inspector]

Are they sleeper agents? Blackmailed or bribed? Or just hate this country?

I'd say it's a mix of all 4.

[chatham]

This is a great story ,excerpted from the Bostonherald.com about the "good" people from Salvador who probably came here thru Mexico.
It is worth a read and there is more in the herald.

Scary ending to the article,
"Among the most notorious local crimes attributed to MS-13 was the gang rape of two deaf girls, one 14, the other 17, in a Somerville park in 2002. Three MS-13 gang members were charged in the brutal rapes, during which one victim was knocked from her wheelchair before the assault."

---

Boston Herald
Eastie gang linked to al-Qaeda
By Michele McPhee
Wednesday, January 5, 2005

A burgeoning East Boston-based street gang made up of alleged rapists and machete-wielding robbers has been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, prompting Boston police to ``turn up the heat'' on its members, the Herald has learned.

MS-13, which stands for La Mara Salvatrucha, is an extremely violent organization with roots in El Salvador, and boasts more than 100 ``hardcore members'' in East Boston who are suspected of brutal machete attacks, rapes and home invasions. There are hundreds more MS-13 gangsters in towns along the North Shore, said Boston police Sgt. Detective Joseph Fiandaca, who has investigated the gang since it began tagging buildings in Maverick Square in 1995.

In recent months, intelligence officials in Washington have warned national law enforcement agencies that al-Qaeda terrorists have been spotted with members of MS-13 in El Salvador, prompting concerns the gang may be smuggling Islamic fundamentalist terrorists into the country. Law enforcement officials have long believed that MS-13 controls alien smuggling routes along Mexico.

The warning is being taken seriously in East Boston, where Raed Hijazi, an al-Qaeda operative charged with training the suicide bombers in the attack on the USS Cole, lived and worked, prosecutors have charged.

Also, the commercial jets that hurtled into the World Trade Center towers in New York City were hijacked from Logan International Airport.

``The terrorist aspect, especially when you think in terms of 9/11 and how intent these terrorists are, will turn the heat up on our efforts with MS-13,'' Fiandaca said.

MS-13 members congregate near the Maverick Square train station sporting white and blue bandannas, their skin inked with spider webs and ``laugh now, cry later'' clown faces.

[Ben Ficklin]

It is frequently said by those that participate on the immigration threads that they are opposed only to illegals.

This thread proves otherwise.

[Marine Inspector]

It is frequently said by those that participate on the immigration threads that they are opposed only to illegals.

Illegals and Amnesty. TPS is not a form of legal immigration, it is a quasi amnesty. The vast majority of these aliens were here illegally before being granted TPS status and all will be here illegally if that status is ever terminated, as they will never leave. Basically, they are temporary legal illegals.

There is nothing preventing them from returning to their home country, except Congress.

[Ben Ficklin]

They have papers. They are legal.

[Marine Inspector]

Yes, they are currently temporarily legal illegal aliens. We have many of those running around this country.

[Marine Inspector]

http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/tps_inter.htm#whatistps

What is Temporary Protected Status?

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a temporary immigration status granted to eligible nationals of designated countries (or parts thereof). In 1990, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 (“IMMACT”), P.L. 101-649, Congress established a procedure by which the Attorney General may provide TPS to aliens in the United States who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, the temporary effects of an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. On March 1, 2003, pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Public Law 107-296, the authority to designate a country (or part thereof) for TPS, and to extend and terminate TPS designations, was transferred from the Attorney General to the Secretary of Homeland Security. At the same time, responsibility for administering the TPS program was transferred from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (Service) to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

During the period for which a country has been designated under the TPS program, TPS beneficiaries may remain in the United States and may obtain work authorization. However, TPS does not lead to permanent resident status. When the TPS designation of a country is terminated, beneficiaries revert to the same immigration status they maintained before TPS (unless that status had since expired or been terminated) or to any other status they may have acquired while registered for TPS. Accordingly, if an alien had unlawful status prior to receiving TPS and did not obtain any status during the TPS period, the alien reverts to unlawful status upon the termination of that TPS designation.

[Ben Ficklin]

designation wasn't terminated.