IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Nilson Canenguez is facing the prospect of being forced to return to his native El Salvador in the coming months after nearly 20 years in the U.S. But he’s not going home empty-handed — or bitter. The father of three who came to this country with virtually nothing is leaving as the owner of a construction business with dozens of employees and a nest-egg large enough to buy two properties in his homeland and semi-retire at 45…He is one of about 400,000 people from a handful of troubled countries whose temporary legal residency has been ended by the Trump administration, which has argued the Temporary Protected Status program, or TPS, that let them stay was never meant to be permanent despite repeated extensions. Canenguez’s case is an example of how the program has not only provided a lifeline to migrants but allowed some to prosper….The end of the TPS, which applies to three Central American countries, along with Haiti, Nepal and Sudan, has generated panic and despair among many immigrant families. Many fear not just economic loss, but the gang violence that has gripped Central America in recent years and led to El Salvador having one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Some are frantically trying to find a legal way to stay while others like Noe Duarte, a 41-year-old construction worker from El Salvador, are quietly making plans to try and stay without legal residency.”
-Luis Alonso Lugo, “Migrant from El Salvador grateful to US after 20-year stay,” The Associated Press, June 8, 2018 2:40 pm