US to end protected status for 200,000 Salvadorans

The U.S. administration will end the temporary protected status that has allowed some 200,000 people from El Salvador to stay legally in the United States for nearly 17 years, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Monday.


However, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she's extending it for another 18 months to Sept. 9, 2019 in a bid to ensure "an orderly transition."

The move upends a status quo that has existed since 2001, when the then President George W. Bush extended temporary protected status to Salvadorans who were in the United States after major earthquakes hit the Latin American country.
 [chinamedia]