• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Marilyn Miranda, 9, draped in a Salvadoran flag, attends an immigration rally with her mother outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington June 4, 2019. A Sept. 14, 2020, decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for 9th Circuit in Ramos v. Nielsen brings the Trump administration one step closer to ending Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for almost all people with TPS in the United States. (CNS photo/Leah Millis, Reuters)

Archbishop Lori ‘greatly dismayed’ by court ruling impacting certain immigrants

September 18, 2020
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Archbishop's Ministry, Coronavirus, Feature, Hispanic Ministry, Immigration and Migration, Local News, News

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said he was “greatly dismayed” by the Sept. 14 decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals siding with President Donald Trump’s plan to end a particular immigration protection status that would have allowed people from six countries that have suffered disasters to remain in the United States.

The court said the president was within his rights to revoke what’s called Temporary Protected Status, popularly known as TPS, from Salvadoran immigrants. TPS grants a work permit and a reprieve from deportation to certain people whose countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or exceptional situations, to remain temporarily in the United States.

The ruling also is expected to affect TPS holders from Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan and Nepal.

“These vulnerable members of our society are already suffering more than others from the effects of the pandemic on their physical, mental and economic welfare,” Archbishop Lori said in a Sept. 18 statement, noting that more than 200,000 individuals are living legally in the United States under the program. “Rather than this unjust treatment, we owe them a debt of gratitude as they have continued to risk their health as essential workers in hospitals, food service and production and other industries.”

Archbishop Lori said it is “particularly distressing to consider the impact of this decision on their children, who could face separation from their parents if they are forced to return to their native country and the harsh conditions they fled.”

The archbishop noted that in Maryland alone, an estimated 19,800 Salvadorans who are TPS holders are parents to 17,100 U.S.-born children. Another 1,900 Hondurans living in the state are parents to 1,300 U.S.-born children.

“Justice 4 TPS” is seen Oct. 3, 2018, on a car window in Los Angeles. A Sept. 14, 2020, decision from the U.S Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Ramos v. Nielsen brings the Trump administration one step closer to ending Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for almost all people with TPS in the United States. (CNS photo/Kyle Grillot, Reuters)

“The plight of these children must be a concern for all of us,” Archbishop Lori said.

“The Catholic Church, both in our country and in Central America, continues to minister to the needs of these families, and we are committed to offering them our support and compassion,” Archbishop Lori said. “Congress must act to give them the legal protection to which they are entitled. Along with the U.S. Conference of Bishops, I urgently appeal to the U.S. Senate to take up the American Dream and Promise Act, which the House passed last year, and to ensure that the devastating consequences of this decision will be prevented.”

Ashley Feasley, director of policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, told Catholic News Service that although the president ended the status, there remains a six-month wind-down period.’

“It doesn’t affect people’s status this year,” she said. “They still would be allowed to stay here and get a driver’s license and work authorizations they have now.”

But that could stop early next year.

The wind-down period for the TPS holders is different for different countries but all is expected to take place in 2021 if the plans goes forward, Catholic News Service reported. But that timing brings some to speculate that the U.S. presidential election and its result could affect what ultimately happens.

The situation is complex, Feasley said. There’s also the issue of TPS holders who have families, including U.S.-born children, other pending legislation, possible involvement by the Supreme Court and there’s also a possibility, though not likely, Congress could act to provide a path to citizenship for TPS recipients.

“The 9th Circuit’s decision continues a heartbreaking path of uncertainty and fear for hundreds of thousands of TPS recipients needlessly put into motion by the Trump administration,” said a joint statement from Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Washington Auxiliary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration; and Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services.

“TPS countries such as El Salvador and Haiti cannot adequately handle the return of TPS recipients and their families. The spread of COVID-19 has only made conditions worse,” they said, adding the decision “will fragment American families.”

They urged the nation “not turn its back on TPS recipients and their families.”

“They too are children of God. We stand in solidarity with TPS recipients, who are here and have been living and working in the United States legally, and we will continue to do so with them in their countries of origin,” the three said in the statement, released Sept. 15.

Archbishop Gomez, Bishop Dorsonville and Callahan again called on the U.S. Senate to take up the American Dream and Promise Act, which the House passed last year.

“Without action by Congress,” they said, “recipients’ lives will be upended. Congress must act to ensure that such catastrophic human consequences do not occur.”

The bill would provide TPS holders, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and those who have Deferred Enforced Departure status with protection from deportation and an opportunity to obtain permanent legal status in the United States if they meet certain requirements.

Rhina Guidos of Catholic News Service contributed to this report. Read Archbishop Lori’s full statement here.

Copyright © 2020 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

George P. Matysek Jr.

George Matysek, a member of the Catholic Review staff since 1997, has served as managing editor since September 2021. He previously served as a writer, senior correspondent, assistant managing editor and digital editor of the Catholic Review and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In his current role, he oversees news coverage of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a host of Catholic Review Radio.

George has won more than 100 national and regional journalism and broadcasting awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, the Catholic Press Association, the Associated Church Press and National Right to Life. He has reported from Guyana, Guatemala, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

A native Baltimorean, George is a proud graduate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School in Essex. He holds a bachelor's degree from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a master's degree from UMBC.

George, his wife and five children live in Rodgers Forge. He is a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history
  • Fire guts historic Catholic school in parish connected to St. John Neumann
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Suspect pleads not guilty in murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop O’Connell
  • Movie Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4, a festival of fatality’

| Latest Local News |

Catholic Charities’ William J. McCarthy Jr. named Loyola’s Business Leader of the Year

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

| Latest World News |

National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series

Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts

Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series
  • Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests
  • Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts
  • Praying for healing for our pet
  • Jérôme Lejeune’s legacy advances ‘abundant life’ for people with Down syndrome in world and church
  • Texas parishioners affected by Ukrainian war, a wildfire have relied on faith, community to survive turmoil
  • Pope, World Council of Churches’ leaders talk about war, divisions
  • Pre-Vatican II Mass was formed by ‘clericalization,’ says papal preacher
  • Memorial to modern Christian martyrs opens in Rome

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED