A deadline that never landed

TPS for El Salvador was set to expire September 9, covering roughly 170,000 people. The date came and went with no renewal and no termination.

An announcement, someday

The program website now says a decision will come "at the appropriate time." Until then, the government says Salvadorans keep their status and work permits.

“An announcement on El Salvador's TPS will be made at the appropriate time.”

A sword over their heads

People who have built lives here for decades now plan around a decision that could arrive any day. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council called it a sword of Damocles.

“with a sword of Damocles over their heads”

Alive, but for how long

José Palma of the National TPS Alliance says the only certainty is that protection still exists right now. The length of it is the open question.

“The only thing we know is that TPS for El Salvador is still alive and protecting people from detention and deportation.”

The 60-day rule

By statute, if the Homeland Security secretary misses the 60-day mark before expiration, protection extends automatically for six months. No Federal Register notice has been posted.

“If they were to interpret the law based on how other presidents have interpreted it before, Salvadorans should be protected for at least six months.”

The pattern elsewhere

The administration has already moved to end TPS for more than a dozen countries, including Venezuela, Honduras and Nicaragua. Advocates expect El Salvador could be next.

The courts stepped back

The Supreme Court let the administration strip protection from over 350,000 Haitians and Syrians, ruling the DHS secretary's TPS decisions are not subject to judicial review. That closed off most legal challenges for some 1.3 million recipients.

Salvadorans built this law

Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990 partly in response to people fleeing El Salvador's civil war. Salvadorans were the first group ever granted it.

“It was the Salvadoran community that actually pushed for the creation of TPS.”

Why they fled in the first place

Through the 1980s the US sent El Salvador's military government $1 million a day. The Reagan administration then denied most Salvadoran refugees protection, calling them economic migrants.

A promise kept for 40 years

Arnoldo Díaz fled in 1982 after a student movement marked him as a threat. His best friend, shot at a demonstration, died in his arms asking him never to stop fighting for their people.

“Just promise me that you'll never give up on our people and will never stop fighting.”

Limbo as a tactic

Díaz, now a citizen and a National TPS Alliance co-coordinator, sees the delay as pressure, not mercy. His group runs legal clinics and helps parents sign power-of-attorney forms for their US citizen children.

“Keeping people in limbo like that is psychological torture to push people to self-deport.”

The cost of not knowing

Without a clear end date, TPS holders struggle to renew driver's licenses and some employers are already cutting them loose. Families are delaying car purchases and weighing whether to sell their homes.

“I can't keep you working. I need to know that you are authorized to work, and therefore come back when you have the proper documentation.”

Is El Salvador safe now

The State Department rates it the lowest travel risk, citing falling crime. Experts reviewing Nayib Bukele's state of exception found imprisonment, torture and disappearances that may amount to crimes against humanity.

A lifetime, not a reprieve

Palma wants deportations paused while Congress weighs a path to legal status for people who have followed every rule for 25 years.

“25 years is a lifetime. They've put all their youth into this country. We can't just tell them, pick up your stuff, close your business, take your children, and go home.”