Another group of immigrants may be on the verge of losing deportation protections

Soledad Miranda’s eyes fill with tears as she packs boxes for a move she’s hoping she won’t have to make.

“I feel defeated,” she says.

For 25 years, the program known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, has allowed Miranda and around 170,000 other Salvadorans to work legally in the United States and protected them from deportation. Now, with a deadline looming, many are on edge awaiting the Trump administration’s decision on their futures.

“All of us are just holding our breath,” says Abel Nuñez, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in Washington.

Some Salvadorans had hoped the rapport between Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and US President Donald Trump could pave the way for a reprieve, even as administration officials have revoked deportation protections for many other nationalities .

But the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t yet made an announcement on TPS for El Salvador, and September 9 is the scheduled ending date for protections for Salvadorans, which were last extended during the final days of the Biden administration . It’s unclear what will happen if Wednesday’s deadline passes with no official announcement.

Miranda, 52, came to the US in 1997 and built a life for herself and her 16-year-old daughter, who is a US citizen. Working as a cleaner in a government building, she saved enough money for an apartment she says she can no longer afford if her work authorization expires. So she’s started packing treasured mementos from more than 30 years of her life.

“Now all of that is in this box,” Miranda tells CNN en Español as she gestures at an empty wall in her apartment. “It’s over.”

Still, even as she fears the worst, she’s among a group of advocates pushing for a solution at protests and vigils in Washington, where Salvadorans make up the capital region’s largest foreign-born population.

But she says time is running out – and so is hope.

A June Supreme Court decision cleared the way for the Trump administration to end TPS for hundreds of thousands of people.

Administration officials have consistently criticized TPS and touted their efforts to strip the deportation protections they argue had become a de facto amnesty program for undocumented immigrants that was never intended by Congress. So far, under the second Trump administration, officials have revoked TPS for most immigrants who had it , terminating protections for 13 countries . As of mid-August, the protections remained in place for just four countries, including El Salvador, according to a recent Pew Research Center analysis.

What is Temporary Protected Status?

Recently, the end of TPS has left hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the US vulnerable to deportation – and advocates say fears are growing amid reports of intensifying enforcement .

Like Haitians, Salvadoran TPS holders were first granted protections after a devastating earthquake hit their country . And like Haitians, Salvadoran TPS holders also have a sizeable presence in the US, with the number of beneficiaries estimated at around 170,000 people, many of whom now have US citizen children.

Some Salvadorans have speculated that the positive relationship between Trump and Bukele, who’s made other border security and immigration deals with the US, could be an opening for authorities to take a different approach this time around.

“Some of them still feel that the relationship between…Bukele and Trump will save the day,” Nuñez says.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP/File

“I think that’s wishful thinking. But hope is the last thing we lose,” says Jaime Contreras. He’s executive vice president of the Service Employee International Union’s 32BJ Capital Area District, which represents property maintenance workers, doormen, security officers and other workers. He estimates that hundreds of union members in the DC area, and thousands nationally, would be among the many that will lose their jobs if TPS ends for Salvadorans — a move he argues would be cruel to them and economically devastating for the country.

“It doesn’t make any economic sense to take away legal status from people who are documented and can work and are part of our workforce,” he says.

Ending TPS could have an even greater economic impact in El Salvador, where remittances, the money immigrants send home, make up more than 25% of the GDP, according to the World Bank .

And during the first Trump administration, Bukele was outspoken about his discussions with US officials to find ways for Salvadorans on TPS to remain in the US. But he hasn’t made a public push for the extension of TPS for Salvadorans under the second Trump administration.

CNN has reached out to the Salvadoran Embassy in Washington and the Central American country’s immigration office for comment.

Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images/File

CNN has also reached out to DHS to ask whether it’s ending TPS for Salvadorans, and if so when deportation protections and work permits would be revoked.

Asked by reporters Tuesday about the administration’s plans for Salvadorans with TPS, White House border czar Tom Homan shrugged.

“Well, we’ll have to see what happens. That’s a secretary (of Homeland Security) judgement,” he said. “TPS, Temporary Protected Status, means temporary. And let’s face it, El Salvador is a much safer country than it’s ever been now with the new president over there.”

With no clear announcement from US officials about what’s next, uncertainty has been weighing on many Salvadorans, Nuñez says .

In the meantime, he says, his organization has been advising Salvadorans to consult with trusted advisers or immigration attorneys to see if they have any legal immigration pathways.

“Right now, it’s the quiet before the storm,” he says.

On Thursday, he says, a harsh new reality will likely hit many Salvadorans in the US.

As she waits for word, Miranda says she’s most worried about her daughter’s future. She’s a standout student who’s just beginning her junior year of high school.

“I already had my life planned out — that I would leave of my own free will, not by force,” she says, “and now I won’t be able to see my daughter achieve her dreams, the way I achieved mine.”

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez and CNN en Español’s Mauricio Torres contributed to this report.

索莱达·米兰达一边打包准备搬家，一边眼中噙满了泪水，她希望自己永远不必搬家。

“我感到很沮丧，”她说。

25年来，名为“临时保护身份”（TPS）的项目让米兰达和其他约17万名萨尔瓦多人得以在美国合法工作，并免遭遣返。如今，随着最后期限的临近，许多人忐忑不安地等待着特朗普政府对其未来的决定。

“我们都屏住了呼吸，”华盛顿中美洲资源中心执行主任阿贝尔·努涅斯说道。

一些萨尔瓦多人曾希望萨尔瓦多总统纳伊布·布克莱和美国总统唐纳德·特朗普之间的良好关系能够为他们争取到喘息之机，尽管美国政府官员已经取消了许多其他国籍人士的驱逐保护。

但国土安全部尚未就萨尔瓦多公民的临时保护身份（TPS）发表声明，而9月9日是萨尔瓦多人临时保护身份的预定到期日，该保护身份上次延期是在拜登政府执政末期。如果周三的最后期限过去后仍未有官方声明，目前尚不清楚将会发生什么。

52岁的米兰达1997年来到美国，和她16岁的女儿（女儿是美国公民）一起在这里安家落户。她在政府大楼做清洁工，攒够了钱买了一套公寓。她说，如果工作许可到期，她就负担不起这套公寓了。于是，她开始打包自己30多年来珍藏的纪念品。

“现在所有的一切都装在这个盒子里了，”米兰达一边指着公寓里空荡荡的墙壁一边对CNN西班牙语频道说，“一切都结束了。”

尽管她担心最糟糕的情况会发生，但她仍然是华盛顿抗议和守夜活动中寻求解决方案的倡导者之一，萨尔瓦多人是首都地区最大的外来人口群体。

但她说时间不多了，希望也快要破灭了。

最高法院6月份的一项裁决为特朗普政府终止数十万人的临时保护身份（TPS）扫清了障碍。

政府官员一直批评临时保护身份（TPS），并大力宣传他们取消这项被他们称为事实上已成为非法移民大赦计划的举措，而这并非国会的初衷。迄今为止，在特朗普第二任期内，官员们已撤销了大多数持有TPS身份的移民的资格，终止了来自13个国家的保护。根据皮尤研究中心最近的一项分析，截至8月中旬，仅有包括萨尔瓦多在内的四个国家的移民仍享有TPS保护。

什么是临时保护身份？

最近，临时保护身份 (TPS) 的终止使数十万在美国的海地人面临被驱逐的风险——倡导者表示，随着执法力度加大的报道，人们的担忧也在加剧。

与海地人一样，萨尔瓦多临时保护身份持有者也是在该国遭受毁灭性地震后首次获得保护。同样，萨尔瓦多临时保护身份持有者在美国也有相当数量的人口，受益人数估计约为17万人，其中许多人现在都拥有美国公民子女。

一些萨尔瓦多人猜测，特朗普与布克莱之间良好的关系（布克莱曾与美国达成其他边境安全和移民协议）可能为当局这次采取不同的做法创造机会。

努涅斯说：“他们中的一些人仍然认为……布克莱和特朗普之间的关系会力挽狂澜。”

马克·谢费尔贝因/美联社/档案照片

“我认为这只是一厢情愿的想法。但希望是我们最后才会失去的东西，”海梅·孔特雷拉斯说道。他是服务业雇员国际工会32BJ首都地区分会的执行副主席，该分会代表着物业维护工人、门卫、保安和其他工人。他估计，如果萨尔瓦多人的临时保护身份（TPS）终止，华盛顿特区数百名工会成员以及全国数千名工会成员将失去工作——他认为此举对他们来说是残酷的，并且会对萨尔瓦多人的国家经济造成毁灭性打击。

他说：“剥夺那些有合法身份、能够工作、并且是我们劳动力的一部分的人的合法身份，这在经济上没有任何意义。”

根据世界银行的数据，在萨尔瓦多，汇款（移民寄回家的钱）占国内生产总值的 25% 以上，因此终止临时保护身份可能会对萨尔瓦多的经济产生更大的影响。

在特朗普第一任期内，布克莱曾公开表示，他曾与美国官员讨论如何让持有临时保护身份（TPS）的萨尔瓦多人留在美国。但在特朗普第二任期内，他并未公开推动延长萨尔瓦​​多人的TPS身份。

CNN已联系萨尔瓦多驻华盛顿大使馆和该中美洲国家的移民局寻求置评。

Bryan Dozier/中东图片社/法新社/盖蒂图片社/档案照片

CNN 也联系了美国国土安全部，询问是否会终止萨尔瓦多人的临时保护身份 (TPS)，如果是的话，何时会取消他们的驱逐保护和工作许可。

周二，当记者问及政府对持有临时保护身份的萨尔瓦多人的计划时，白宫边境事务负责人汤姆·霍曼耸了耸肩。

“嗯，我们得看看情况如何。这要由国土安全部长来判断，”他说。“临时保护身份（TPS）就是临时的。而且说实话，萨尔瓦多现在有了新总统，比以往任何时候都安全得多。”

努涅斯说，由于美国官员没有就下一步行动做出明确声明，不确定性一直困扰着许多萨尔瓦多人。

与此同时，他表示，他的组织一直在建议萨尔瓦多人咨询值得信赖的顾问或移民律师，看看他们是否有任何合法的移民途径。

“现在是暴风雨前的宁静，”他说。

他表示，周四，许多在美萨尔瓦多人可能会面临严峻的新现实。

在等待消息期间，米兰达说她最担心的是女儿的未来。她女儿是个品学兼优的学生，刚刚升入高三。

“我已经规划好了自己的人生——我会自愿离开，而不是被迫离开，”她说，“现在我将无法看到我的女儿实现她的梦想，就像我实现我的梦想一样。”

美国有线电视新闻网 (CNN) 的普里西拉·阿尔瓦雷斯 (Priscilla Alvarez) 和美国有线电视新闻网 (CNN) 西班牙语版的毛里西奥·托雷斯 (Mauricio Torres) 对本报告做出了贡献。