The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work co-hosted a forum with the Consulate General of El Salvador in Los Angeles on Oct. 27 to discuss the soon-to-expire Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

TPS is designated for certain countries and allows foreign nationals to stay in the United States for a specified amount of time if conditions in their home country prevent them from returning safely. More than 190,000 Salvadorans have lived in the United States under TPS for 16 years, since devastating earthquakes in El Salvador forced their migration north. Now, with the program set to expire in March 2018, many of them, along with other Central Americans living in the states under TPS, are in distress about possibly being sent back to their home countries.

“In reality, [their] contributions have not always been visible because there has always been a stereotype in our community with other characteristics that have nothing to do with the Salvadoran community,” said Hugo Martinez, minister of foreign affairs for El Salvador, who came in from El Salvador to speak at the event.

The forum, which brought together community members, political representatives, service providers, and diplomatic organizations, highlighted the positive contributions to the United States by TPS recipients.

“More than 95 percent of TPS recipients have permanent jobs, sometimes two jobs. They speak moderate English, and have a mortgage,” Martinez said. “Over 50 percent of the 190,000 TPS recipients are paying for a home in the United States and contribute to Medicare.”

A video played at the event showed the story of Rosa Joya, a registered nurse in El Salvador who resorted to cleaning houses to help her family stay afloat when she first came to the United States under TPS.

“We benefit from the program, but we also make contributions. We support health, education and business sectors,” Joya said.

Joya has since studied English for foreign nurses and now works at a hospital in a nursing capacity. Her daughter, who grew up in the United States under TPS, is currently completing her nursing degree.

Serving the community

Forum panelists acknowledged the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work’s efforts in serving the Salvadoran community in Los Angeles, including a field placement established two years ago at the Consulate General of El Salvador in Los Angeles, the first of its kind. Here, USC Master of Social Work students provide mental health services to directly address the needs of families who have immigrated to the United States.

The first MSW student to perform this field placement, Miyera Noris, shared her positive learning experiences working with the consulate.

“The Salvadoran community has had access to treatment, which has contributed to a better quality of life for us in the United States,” Noris said. “This new service model for the immigration community is similar to models being adapted in other consulates, including Mexico.”

“The [Salvadoran] consulate was the first to establish mental health services to directly address the needs of this community,” said Cherrie Short, associate dean of the Office of Global and Community Initiatives at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. “It is our goal as a school to continue to demonstrate this community’s great contribution to the country, as well as highlight the consulate’s work.” 

Putting a face on the issue

In addition to Martinez, forum panelists included Paul Little, president of the Pasadena, California, Chamber of Commerce; Gaspar Rivera, project director at the UCLA Labor Center; and Vanessa Lopez, a California State University, Los Angeles, student covered by TPS who has resided in the United States since she was 4 years old.

“It’s important that people understand we’re talking about our neighbors and the owners of the businesses we frequent,” Little said. “It’s important to humanize this community.”

Lopez said she was thankful for the program, but that she also recognized the hardship her mother experienced to successfully integrate her five children into the country.

“She had to pay $500 every 18 months per family member in order to keep us here under TPS,” she said. “I chose to pursue my college degree to repay her and help my family.”

Lopez went onto explain that learning in English while living in a Spanish-speaking household wasn’t always easy. “I taught myself to read and to study. Applying to college isn’t easy for first-generation [students] – no one knew the process [at home], especially as a TPS recipient,” said Lopez, who will graduate with honors this year.

Looking to the future

The forum’s goal was to not only highlight TPS community contributions but also to begin to discuss alternatives to the expiring program.

Although TPS is not in the hands of Congress, Martinez said, it is important to see what Congress has to say about the program. With the change in federal government leadership in November 2016, Martinez’s unit has organized more than 30 major U.S. companies to send letters to the Secretary of Homeland Security to delay the expiration of TPS, as well as recruited the support of government and non-government entities.

“We have the numbers, we have the history, but more importantly, what we have is the justice and value of these people who have benefitted from TPS and DACA, so we need to do our job to convince the officials locally, state and nationwide, of a pathway toward residency long-term in the United States,” Martinez said. “The problem with TPS is the ‘T’ – [it’s] temporary.”

The Office of Global and Community Initiatives at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work plans to continue supporting the school’s efforts to further develop the collaboration with the consulate in providing direct mental health services to the Salvadoran community in Los Angeles.

Short, along with Clinical Associate Professor of Field Education Maria Hu, planned the event.