Hundreds of faith leaders and organizations sent the Trump administration a letter urging it to review and extend temporary protected status (TPS) for El Salvador before it expires on Sept. 9.
The letter, sent to President Donald Trump, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, called for an extension because conditions in El Salvador remain “unsafe” and the removal of those living in the U.S. would be “detrimental” to communities.
“We believe that sending hundreds of thousands of Salvadoran TPS holders back into an unstable and unfamiliar country that does not have the capability to support its own nationals is a danger to those individuals and a decision that would have severe negative consequences for years to come,” the letter said.
“A thoughtful review of the current conditions in El Salvador, consideration of their contributions as TPS holders to the United States and the administration’s obligation to respect the statutory framework which governs TPS, supports an extension of El Salvador’s TPS designation,” the letter said.
The 97 faith-based organizations and 174 faith leaders “have a shared purpose in respecting human life, upholding the inherent dignity of every individual person, maintaining the family unit, and protecting those who are unable to safely return to their home country due to conflict, natural disasters, or some other extraordinary condition,” the leaders wrote.
The letter was signed by many Catholic leaders and institutions including Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer of Atlanta, and Bishop Stephen Parkes of Savannah, Georgia, as well as individuals from numerous religious orders.
The letter detailed that about 20% of TPS holders from El Salvador entered the U.S. when they were 16 or younger and “later became adults; some married and had children who were born in the United States.”
“They are our neighbors, our friends, and loved ones, and this administration should view them as such and value their contribution to the nation,” the letter said. Terminating TPS will cause the individuals “trauma and hardship” if separated from their families, the letter said.
Leaders call conditions ‘harmful’ as U.S. government cites low risk
“The current conditions in El Salvador remain harmful for TPS holders who face a possible return to their country,” the leaders said.
El Salvador has remained in a state of emergency since March 2022. The declaration was “in response to its efforts to tame organized crime, suspending basic human rights protections,” the letter said.
While the letter noted that returning to the nation is unsafe due to mass incarceration, enforced disappearances, and dangerous environmental conditions, the U.S. State Department lists El Salvador under a Level 1 advisory — “exercise normal precautions — as of June 2026.
The designation is the lowest safety and security risk level in the U.S. Department of Stateʼs travel advisory system.
While the nation was once one of the most violent countries, a 2025 Congressional Research Service report said data from Salvadoran police authorities revealed a measurable reduction in homicides in the country since 2015.
From 2015 through 2024, the homicide rate declined by more than 98%, according to Salvadoran security officials. The Salvadoran government claimed its crackdown on gang activity reduced El Salvadorʼs homicide rate to 1.9 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024, down from 53.1 per 100,000 in 2018.
The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador noted that over the past few years “there has been a significant reduction in gang-related activity,” but there is still “violent crime” throughout the country.
A 2026 World Report by Human Rights Watch found that the state of emergency “remains in effect, suspending constitutional rights.”
“Authorities have committed widespread abuses, including mass arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and due process violations,” the report said.
While the violations continue, it did report that gang violence has “markedly declined.”
“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary,” according to DHS. “For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.