9,000 Nepalis to lose protected status in US

In this May 22, 2017 file photo, Pierrot Mervilier (center rear) hugs a girl that did not wish to be identified, living in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) after she and her family spoke to members of the media in Miami. The Trump administration said in November 2017  it is ending a temporary residency permit program that has allowed almost 60,000 citizens from Haiti to live and work in the US since a 2010 powerful earthquake shook the Caribbean nation. The Homeland Security Department said conditions in Haiti have improved significantly, so the benefit will be extended one last time — until July 2019 — to give Haitians time to prepare to return home. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Around 9,000 Nepalis allowed to stay in the United States since the devastating April 2015 earthquake will lose their protected status in June 2019, the government said on Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a review of conditions in Nepal since the disaster showed they have improved and no longer support the “temporary protected status” (TPS) given to Nepalis.

“Since the 2015 earthquake, conditions in Nepal have notably improved. Additionally, since the last review of the country’s conditions in October 2016, Nepal has made substantial progress in post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction,” DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement.

As a result, “Nepal can now adequately manage the return of its nationals.”
Nepalis with TPS have until June 24, 2019 to return.

As part of its crackdown on illegal immigration, the administration of US President Donald Trump has been reviewing, and mostly cancelling, TPS programs for people of several nationalities allowed to remain in the US over long periods while their own homelands wrestled with disaster recovery.

In January, around 200,000 Salvadorans were given an 18-month warning that they would lose protected status in place since two massive earthquakes hit the country.

And in November 2017, around 59,000 Haitians permitted to stay since an earthquake struck the Caribbean island in 2010 were told they would have to leave in 18 months.

TPS is also ending for Nicaragua and Sudan while protections for South Sudanese immigrants have been extended until May 2019.

Other countries still under review include Honduras, Syria, and Yemen. /kga