Nearly 5,000 Salvadorans in Nevada hold TPS as federal detentions rise

Nearly 5,000 people from El Salvador living in Nevada hold Temporary Protective Status, a work permit and deportation shield that exists for immigrants from designated countries facing dangerous conditions at home. The Trump administration has not said whether the program will be extended.

Lucio Alexander Bernal Munoz has lived in Las Vegas for decades, court records show, and arrived from El Salvador in the 1990s. Federal agents took him into custody in April, after he was charged with drug possession, on grounds that he lacked a valid visa and had not been legally admitted to the country. He was awaiting renewal of his status at the time, said Melissa Corral, his attorney. "Ese fue el fundamento que usaron para iniciar el proceso de deportación en su contra, y eso no es cierto", Corral said.

In June, ICE agents in Reno detained a Haitian TPS holder one month before the Department of Homeland Security ended the program for nearly 350,000 Haitians nationwide. A TPS beneficiary from Utah was arrested a couple of months earlier at the Southern Nevada Detention Center after being mistaken for his brother. Francis Garcia of the National TPS Alliance said the federal government is misreading the law: "Están interpretando mal la ley". Michael Kagan, who directs the immigration clinic at UNLV, said ICE agents often apply an "arrest first, ask questions later" approach when detaining people with provisional status.

The Trump administration has ended TPS for more than one million people and has terminated the program for 13 of the 17 designated countries. Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of Culinary Workers Union Local 226, said ICE has detained or "hostigado" several union members who hold TPS over the past year. Thousands of Salvadorans with TPS belong to that union. "Los beneficiarios del TPS son trabajadores que han sufrido traumas enormes", Pappageorge said, adding they were granted legal status to work and support families in the United States.

TPS has existed since 1990. It grants legal status and renewable work permits for up to 18 months to immigrants from countries facing political persecution or dangerous conditions, including natural disasters. Courts have limited room to review such cases: in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lower courts cannot examine claims that DHS acted illegally when granting, renewing or canceling TPS, except claims based on constitutional violations.

Corral advised people with legal immigration status to settle any pending legal matter, including minor infractions. "Cualquier cosa, por pequeña que parezca, por la que se piense que podría terminar en una cárcel local, resuélvalo", she said, because a local jail booking alerts ICE.