Washington, DC – As the administration expands its effort to eliminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for tens of thousands of individuals previously granted protection in the United States, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) warns this policy may separate children from their families and cause them to become unaccompanied. In a statement issued today, KIND President Wendy Young noted:
“Families and trusted sponsors are the first line of defense in protecting vulnerable children seeking safety in the United States, ensuring they have access to safe homes and loving adults who can protect them from trafficking, labor exploitation, or other dangers. Broadly eliminating TPS protections for thousands of individuals whose safety depends on this longstanding federal program risks separating caregivers from children, rendering these kids unaccompanied or separated from their families again, during a time when their access to support and fundamental legal protections is under attack.
“The broad reach of the administration’s TPS eliminations goes far beyond those facing deportation. Eliminating TPS also ends impacted caregivers’ ability to support financially those in their home, limiting access to necessities such as safe housing, food security, and medical care. Unaccompanied children rely on sponsors to provide for them and support their ability to comply with the immigration enforcement system. When the adults lose their work permits and permission to remain in the country, children will be left alone again to fend for themselves, making it harder for them to make their case for legal protection and be safe from those seeking to take advantage of them. Eliminating TPS will further traumatize children by causing them to lose their caregivers, an experience that many of them have already had in their young lives when they fled their home countries. We urge the administration to ensure that decisions about humanitarian protection fully consider children’s needs and vulnerabilities.”
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For more information, please contact Megan McKenna (mmckenna@supportkind.org).