The United States Congress is once again at work trying to provide amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens living in the United States. The current crop of potential Powerball winners happen to come from Pakistan, and would benefit from the extension of Temporary Protected Status.
The Daily Mail has the full story, but the gist is that two liberal Texas representatives known for their generosity towards immigrants are attempting to convince Congress that these Pakistanis deserve to stay here indefinitely because of natural disasters that have wreaked havoc on the hinterlands of their native country.
For a detailed description of what Temporary Protected Status entails, I suggest you look over the relevant web-page of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. However, the Cliff’s Notes version amounts to this: Basically, immigrants who come from a country that’s currently undergoing protracted civil strife, environmental disaster, or another widespread calamity that prevents them from returning home and reestablishing their roots, are given the opportunity to remain in this country legally.
TPS has also been granted to people from other nations that have fallen on hard times, the most recent example being Haiti. Unfortunately, there are many problems with TPS designations, among them the possibility for fraud, but also the ineluctable fact that TPS acts as a de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals who will, in all likelihood, never return to their homelands. Despite what open borders advocates might lead you to believe, Temporary Protected Status is a get out of deportation free card for almost all of its recipients.
If you don’t believe me, then you might be interested in what happened to previous waves of TPS immigrants. The Center for Immigration Studies has an interesting backgrounder detailing the less than temporary nature of their stays in the United States.
These Pakistanis will never return to Pakistan if Rep. Green and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee have their way, but good luck getting either one of these esteemed representatives to admit as much on the public record.
It shouldn’t be in the hands of the Secretary of Homeland Security. If anything, Congress should repeal the portion of the 1990 Immigration Act that created this designation. It’s a complete misnomer. The people who are given TPS are essentially given de jure amnesty-minus citizenship-which can be renewed by the executive branch at its discretion.
Temporary Protected Status