Biden Admin To Renew Deportation Exemption for More Than 300K Illegal Immigrants
The United States will extend deportation relief and work permits through 2025 for more than 300,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal but will not expand the program to cover additional people, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Tuesday.
The move by President Joe Biden's administration maintains the status quo and stops short of a broader expansion of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program supported by some Democrats and immigrant advocates who say more pathways are needed for people to live and work legally in the United States.
Former president Donald Trump, a Republican and immigration hardliner seeking his party's nomination in 2024, sought to end TPS for the four countries and others during his tenure, but his effort was rebuffed by U.S. courts. Biden's Democratic administration is rescinding Trump's earlier decisions as part of the process of extending the relief for immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal.
TPS allows people who cannot return to their home countries due to natural disasters, armed conflict or other extraordinary measures to remain in the United States and obtain work permits. Designations typically last six to 18 months but can be renewed indefinitely. Some TPS designations have been in place for decades, but they do not lead to permanent U.S. status.
DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that the extensions would offer "continued safety and protection" to people from those countries already eligible for the program.
The latest decision by the Biden administration will allow TPS renewals for 239,000 Salvadorans who have resided in the U.S. since 2001. Some 76,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans in the U.S. since 1998 are eligible, along with 14,500 Nepalese in the country since 2015.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua living in the U.S. illegally will not be covered by the TPS extension since they arrived after the cutoff dates.
Some Democrats, including New York City mayor Eric Adams, have pressed the Biden administration to expand access to work permits for newly arrived migrants, saying it will reduce the strain on local governments receiving people who have recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mica Rosenberg, Aurora Ellis, Alexandra Hudson)
Republican senator Josh Hawley (Mo.) slammed the Biden administration for its failure to stop the widespread crisis of migrant children being forced into labor after crossing the border.
"This administration has let tens of thousands of children be sold into slavery," Hawley said Wednesday. "They are doing nothing about it."
Hawley referred to the scandal over the Health and Human Services Department's controversial policies for dispersing migrant children after they cross the border and are processed. An April report by the New York Times showed documents proving the administration was quickly releasing unaccompanied migrant children into the country by the thousands. Many of those children ended up working grueling jobs, often for long hours and in dangerous conditions where they worked with chemicals and industrial equipment.
"It's a conveyor belt of children being forced through the system, and what's the priority of HHS? Just get 'em out as fast as we can," Hawley said.
Hawley called out HHS secretary Xavier Becerra, who was named in the report and allegedly ignored warnings from employees. Five former HHS employees said they were even pushed out of the agency after they raised concerns about children's safety.
"Again and again, veteran government staffers and outside contractors told the Health and Human Services Department, including in reports that reached Secretary Xavier Becerra, that children appeared to be at risk," the Times reported in April.
Hawley said the administration's refusal to come before the Senate and answer questions about the crisis is "cowardice."
The Times report also implicated former domestic policy adviser Susan Rice. Rice and her team reportedly failed to act, even as administration staffers called for stricter vetting of the sponsors migrant children were placed with to prevent human trafficking. A week after the Times report, the White House announced that Rice would step down.
Further reports found that children were sent to the homes of unscreened adults, some of whom could have been registered sex offenders or had a history of child neglect.
Biden’s DHS Rewards Sanctuary Cities, NGOs with $290M for Resettling Illegal Aliens in U.S.
President Joe Biden is rewarding sanctuary cities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with more than $290 million in taxpayer money for resettling border crossers and illegal aliens across the United States.
Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking the millions in taxpayer money from the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) — a federal initiative launched by the administration and funded by Congress.
This week, DHS officials announced that more than $290 million from SSP had been rewarded to various towns and cities, many of which are sanctuary jurisdictions, along with NGOs like Catholic Charities and United Way for helping resettle hundreds of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens across American communities after their release into the nation’s interior.
In total, 34 cities, towns, and NGOs are getting the millions in federal funds.
Many of the cities are sanctuary jurisdictions. For example, San Diego County, California, a sanctuary jurisdiction, is set to secure more than $15 million in SSP funds, while the sanctuary city of Denver, Colorado, will receive more than $8.6 million.
The sanctuary city of New York City is securing the largest amount of SSP funds, more than $104 million, to aid border crossers and illegal aliens, while the sanctuary city of Chicago has scored more than $10.5 million and the sanctuary state of Illinois will get nearly $19.4 million.
The World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force (WHEAT), an NGO based in Arizona, is set to get $15.5 million to help border crossers and illegal aliens across the state and Catholic Charities, across California and Texas, will rake in more than $24 million in SSP funds.
Last month, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Lance Gooden (R-TX) requested a full accounting by the Biden administration in regard to federal funds being rewarded to cities and NGOs that are aiding illegal immigration in the U.S.
“The surge of illegal immigration, fueled in part by NGOs like those on the [Emergency Food and Shelter Program] National Board is unsustainable and unfair to law-abiding citizens and immigrants alike,” Gooden said.
Illegal immigration imposes an enormous burden on American taxpayers.
Annually, the 11 to 22 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. costs taxpayers more than $143 billion. That amount, though, does not include any of the social and economic costs — such as higher housing prices, depleted wages, lost jobs, increased crime, and strained public resources at hospitals and schools — associated with illegal immigration.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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