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WORLD NEWS Saturday 5 May 2018

Honduras regrets U.S. move to end temporary protected status

By FREDDY CUEVAS
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
(AP) — President Juan Or-
lando Hernandez's govern-
ment expressed regret over
a U.S. move Friday to end
temporary protected sta-
tus, or TPS, for tens of thou-
sands of Hondurans who
have resided in the United
States for nearly two de-
cades.The foreign relations
ministry said in a statement
that it is a sovereign matter
for Washington to decide,
but added that "we deeply
lament it."
It said returnees "are and
always will be welcome
in their homeland, where
they will be received with
open arms," and "their re-
integration into our society
will be facilitated."
The Trump administration
announced earlier in the
day that it was ending TPS
for the 57,000 Hondurans
covered under the pro-
gram. They now have un-
til Jan. 5, 2020, to sort out
their affairs before returning
home — or try to normalize
their migratory status in oth-
er ways, such as through
marriage or sponsorship.
The figure represents a small The Vice-Chancellor of the of Honduras, Isaias Barahona speaks during a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Friday, May
fraction of the estimated 4, 2018.
1.1 million-plus Hondurans Associated Press
living in the United States,
who each year send home dicted. "They will not come Nepal. Hernandez's re-election in the country is clearly in
remittances totaling some back." TPS was granted for Hondu- last year in a vote that was doubt with the election of
$4.2 billion, or nearly one- Hondurans covered by TPS rans after Hurricane Mitch marred by irregularities and Hernandez and the repres-
sixth of Honduras' $26 billion join hundreds of thousands devastated the country, denounced by some as sion of protesters that has
gross domestic product. of other immigrants from particularly its agricultural fraudulent. taken place since the elec-
Still, Hugo Noe, a former countries battered by vio- sector, in 1998. Overall the country is worse tion," Allison said. "The gang
Central Bank president and lence and natural disasters Honduras, afflicted by pov- off than it was nearly two violence is much, much
ex-Honduran ambassador who are losing permission erty and inequality, regu- decades ago post-hurri- worse than it was 20 years
to Washington, called the to be in the United States. In larly posts homicide rates cane, said Michael Allison, ago. ... Drug trafficking and
decision "a tragedy that recent months the Depart- that are among the world's a political scientist special- organized crime have re-
creates uncertainty for so ment of Homeland Security highest amid rampant izing in Central America at ally taken off since the 2009
many families." has also ended protected gang violence. It is also the University of Scranton in coup against (Manuel) Ze-
"Those Hondurans will fall status for El Salvador, Ni- seen as politically unstable Pennsylvania. laya as well. It's tough to
into illegal status," Noe pre- caragua, Haiti, Sudan and following a 2009 coup and "The status of democracy say things are better."q