Approximately 180,000 Salvadorans in the U.S. have legal protection under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which was granted in 2001. Salvadorans with TPS have lived and, in many cases, raised their families here for over 20 years.

Trump cancelled TPS for El Salvador along with Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan, and Nepal during his first administration. However, TPS holders and immigrant rights advocates fought the decision and won in court. The Biden administration then reinstated TPS for El Salvador in 2023.

The current protection is set to expire on March 9, 2025 unless Biden takes action now. The White House has 60 days prior to the expiration date to renew so the clock is ticking.

1) Join a nationwide digital advocacy campaign! Share our post here on social media and/or tell @POTUS your reasons why #TPS redesignation for El Salvador is urgently needed!

2) Call your Rep and/or Senators in Congress and ask them to encourage President Biden to extend TPS for El Salvador ASAP. You can call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and they will connect you directly. Feel free to use the following script:

I am calling to request that you urge the Biden administration to renew Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador as quickly as possible. Ending this life-saving program for over 180,000 Salvadorans who have lived, worked, and raised their families here for over 20 years would cause unimaginable devastation both here in the U.S. and in El Salvador. The State Department’s own reports make clear that human rights abuses and arbitrary arrests are widespread in El Salvador today. I hope you will encourage the Biden administration to renew these critical protections immediately.

Additional background information and resources:

In December 2024, immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and other nations who are protected under TPS went on hunger strike in Washington, DC to urge President Biden to extend TPS protections. Two of the hunger strikers shared their testimony in a press release from the National TPS Alliance: “We are here advocating and speaking up for the well-being of all TPS families, holding on to a glimmer of hope that we can find peace during the holidays with our loved ones, despite the immense stress we feel in the face of the upcoming administration,” said Jose Urias, Salvadoran TPS holder. “I am a TPS beneficiary, owner of a business that employs more than 60 people. I have children born in this country and a lifetime of contributions to this great nation, but today, none of that could stop the next administration from tearing me away from a lifetime of work.”

“I came to this country decades ago, today I have a citizen daughter, I have my small business as a street vendor, and I work cleaning the offices of the mayor of Washington DC,” said Soledad Miranda, Salvadoran TPS holder. “Many people believe that the next president is about to take the country on a turbulent and bumpy ride. We believe they are right, and TPS is a seat belt! We need to be able to buckle up for safety before a fiercely anti-immigrant administration takes the wheel. Mr. President Biden, we expect more from you than from the man who tried to take away the little security we had in this country. Please do everything you can, right now, to protect us from him.”

In December, Senators Padilla (D-CA), Cortez Mastro (D-NV), and Luján (D-NM) sent a letter to the State Department encouraging them to extend and/or redesignate TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua and Ecuador. They wrote, “Both political and environmental conditions in El Salvador continue to justify TPS, with over 180,000 Salvadoran nationals having lived in the U.S. for more than 23 years. We urge the administration to ensure that those from countries with meritorious cases are granted TPS, allowing these individuals to continue building their lives here and contributing to our country.”

In April 2023, 115 Members of Congress, including several Senate and House leaders, joined together to send a letter to the Biden administration calling on DHS Secretary Mayorkas and Secretary of State Blinken to redesignate TPS for El Salvador and Honduras. Regarding El Salvador, they wrote: “El Salvador has suffered severe insecurity, and the government’s subsequent crackdown has resulted in discrimination and human rights violations that threaten the everyday lives of Salvadorans. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2022 country report, there have been significant human rights issues in the country, including credible reports of ‘unlawful or arbitrary killings, forced disappearances; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention.’ In particular, the government’s implementation of the State of Exception, a year-long and continuing state of emergency that is renewed monthly, has imprisoned 2% of the population, led to mass disappearances, and threatened the ability of communities to thrive economically. Since its implementation, security officials have committed widespread human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, torture, inhumane treatment, and deaths in custody, specifically targeting young people in poor neighborhoods.”

Many experts agree that ending TPS would be catastrophic for El Salvador, including due to the loss of remittances, which totaled $24.5 billion to Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in 2020 alone. Remittances were the single largest contributor to El Salvador’s Gross Domestic Product at in 2024, at 23%, surpassing exports (20%).

Salvadoran economists and migration experts estimate that hundreds of people are currently leaving El Salvador every day due to economic strain as well as due to fear of political retribution and arbitrary detention under the ongoing State of Exception.

It’s in President Biden’s hands whether Salvadoran families protected under TPS will be able to remain together or be cruelly ripped apart. Join the digital advocacy campaign by tagging @POTUS & share your reasons why #TPS redesignation for El Salvador is urgently needed and/or call Congress at (202) 224-3121 to ask your Rep and Senators to urge Biden to renew TPS for El Salvador now!