For Immediate Release
March 16, 2022
Media Contact
Erik Villalobos, evillalobos@ndlon.org
BREAKING: DHS Designates TPS for Afghanistan
(Washington DC) Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an 18 month Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Afghanistan, which will protect more than 76,000 Afghan refugees who have been resettling in the United States since the recent Taliban takeover of the entire country.
In response to the most recent designation of TPS, Concepción Morales of the National TPS Alliance released the following statement:
“Immigration laws need to be rewritten by Congress in order to serve the national interest and to ensure equal rights for an entire generation of immigrant families, and one day they will be. In the meantime, we continue to call on President Biden to exhaust his executive authority more robustly to provide minimum basic protections for as many migrants and refugees as possible.
Afghanistan and Ukraine have made clear that migration is inextricably linked to global forces, and despite what xenophobes say, no amount of walling or willful ignorance will change that fact. It is also becoming equally clear that the President’s use of TPS authority is a barometer for white supremacy which must be eradicated from immigration law.
President Biden can either reinforce or redress racism through exercise of discretion. In the days ahead, we hope he does the right thing and generates the will to provide temporary protections for all those who need it.”– Concepción Morales, TPS Holder, National Spokesperson for the National TPS Alliance
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The National TPS Alliance is a grassroots organization comprised of over 50 committees nationwide, advocating for the permanent residency of beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status from the countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, Nepal, Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Yemen