“The move by the Trump Administration to deport 200,000 Salvadorans who were admitted to the US as long as 17 years ago is a gratuitously cruel move. On the heels of decisions to end status for individuals from Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan, it betrays the trust established by President George W. Bush in 2001 when he granted legal status to Salvadorans who were devastated by earthquakes and other natural disasters. Subsequently they feared for their lives and fought to escape gang violence and death squads in their home country. They have lived in the US for a very long time, some nearly two decades, and have established families, gotten jobs, and contributed to our nation’s treasury by paying taxes as all other residents do.

“The move against Salvadorans in the US will tear those families apart. The 200,000 Salvadorans affected are the parents of nearly 193,000 US citizen-children. Salvadorans who earn incomes in the US support tens of thousands or more families back home. Further, El Salvador is poorly equipped to absorb the number of people Trump wants to deport. Many of the children may not even speak Spanish.

“This latest decision by President Trump is one of several that is transforming US immigration policy into a vendetta against those admitted by previous administrations. It lacks all compassion and rationality. It violates the last 50 years of immigration policy, which recognized the value of immigrants, the need to unite families, and the need to open our borders and hearts to the persecuted and dispossessed. Trump’s policy violates our shared religious values that call on us to welcome the stranger. This chapter of American immigration policy will be remembered as a shameful one in American history.

We call on members of Congress to do everything in their power to reinstate the temporary protective status designation for El Salvador and to pass a permanent legislative solution for all in our country who now hold temporary protective status.”