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In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan that struck the Philippines Nov. 8, Cardinal Dolan and Sen. Charles Schumer have called for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Filipino nationals currently and legally residing in the United States.
The TPS program is a temporary benefit aimed at providing relief to foreign nationals in the United Sates and countries devastated by natural disasters. It would allow Filipino nationals, now legally in the country, to remain in the United States for a set period of time while their home nation recovers.
Cardinal Dolan and Schumer, the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, held a joint press conference Nov. 15 outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral announcing the request for TPS for Filipino nationals to prevent their possible deportation to a ravaged country.
“This makes eminent sense,” the cardinal said. “This is justice, this is fairness.”
“Temporary Protected Status is something that America has always done in the grand tradition of the Statue of Liberty that is in our harbor,” Schumer said. “It says that if there’s devastation in your homeland, and you are here on a visa, you’ll eventually have to go home, but that visa time will be extended because there may be no way you can go home now.”
A number of the affected Filipinos residing in the United States are on student visas, visitor visas or work visas.
The TPS program is implemented through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Once granted TPS, individuals may not be deported, can obtain an employment authorization document and may be granted travel authorization. Such individuals cannot be detained by the DHS on the basis of his or her immigration status.
Schumer described among the most heartbreaking accounts of the typhoon’s victims and broken families “the young children, many of whom don’t have parents, just wandering the streets, almost aimlessly.”
“We know that there’s been terrible devastation in the Philippines. The recovery is just beginning,” Schumer added, “and there’s a very, very long way to go.”
“When it comes to good causes, when it comes to helping people, the cardinal has always been there,” Schumer said. “We’ve worked very closely on immigration and many, many other issues together through the years.”
Schumer has also written to President Barack Obama, urging his support of TPS.
