Congressman James McGovern Joins Delegation to TPS Countries

Congressman James McGovern and Community Leaders Join Fact-Finding Delegation to TPS Countries

A delegation of federal and local elected officials, community leaders, and legal experts are traveling to observe country conditions in El Salvador and Honduras — both countries recently rocked by devastating news that their designation for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would be cancelled. The delegation will closely examine the conditions that TPS recipient families and children would confront in Central America if they are forcibly deported by the federal government.

WHO: U.S. Representative James McGovern (D-MA), Joseph Curtatone (Mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts), Alianza Americas, Centro Presente, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice.

The Lawyers’ Committee and Centro Presente filed a landmark federal lawsuit in Boston against the Trump Administration to save TPS for Salvadoran and Honduran immigrants. The lawsuit challenges the decision to terminate TPS designation for El Salvador and Honduras, citing discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity and/or national origin. The complaint for this lawsuit, the first in the country to be filed on behalf of Salvadorans and Hondurans, is available here: http://lawyersforcivilrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/TPS-Amended-Complaint-As-Filed-.pdf

WHAT: Delegation participants will tour San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, and San Salvador, cities wracked by escalating violence, poverty, and impunity that has driven unprecedented levels of migration from Central America since the 1980s. Programmed activities include meetings with Honduran and Salvadoran government officials, U.S . embassy leadership, and local civil society actors. The delegation will raise awareness of the conditions driving migration from the region — and the negative consequences that await TPS recipients if they are forcibly deported to Central America.

WHEN: Sunday, August 12 to Friday, August 17

This fact-finding missions follows a June 2018 delegation organized by Alianza Americas, Centro Presente and the Lawyer’s Committee, which produced a groundbreaking report detailing the extreme violence and poverty that plagues the region. This landmark report is available here: http://lawyersforcivilrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Updated-TPS-Delegation-Report-July-2018.pdf

Follow the delegation on social media:

#TPSDelegation

#StandWithCentralAmericans

#DelegaciónPorCentroamérica

Check out detailed news coverage of the delegation on WBUR: http://www.wbur.org/tag/dispatches-central-america