Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R) joined other lawmakers in penning a letter that calls for redesignating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nicaragua. As the Western Subcommittee Chairwoman, the letter was directed to Biden administration officials.
Joining her in sending the letter were ranking member, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro (D) and Florida Reps. Maxwell Frost (D) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D).
There are an estimated 450,000 Nicaraguan Americans who are living in the United States, and in District 27, which Salazar represents, there are over 30,000 Nicaraguan Americans. The Pew Research Center reports that Florida has the highest concentration of Nicaraguans nationwide.
To redesignate TPS for Nicaraguans would mean to provide security and opportunities to the millions of Nicaraguans who are living in the United States. There is an estimated 37% of the U.S.-based Nicaraguan population residing in the state.
In a statement, Salazar commented that “the blood-stained Ortega-Murillo regime and the Sandinistas are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses and acts of religious persecutions in history.”
“Hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled this tyranny and are seeking refuge in the United States,” Salazar added, calling on the Department of Homeland Security to redesignate TPS for Nicaraguans “who are continuing to flee from the Ortegas, the Sandinistas, and the horror of Socialism the 21st Century.”
Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick echoed in her remarks, expressing “Nicaragua is enmeshed in a dire socio-political and humanitarian crisis that has grown considerably worse.”
Rep. Castro further commented that the Ortega-Murillo regime has “become increasingly authoritarian and brutal,” so “redesignating TPS for Nicaragua will save lives and protect the families who have fled from oppression and violence to find refuge in the United States.
In the letter, the lawmakers praise President Joe Biden (D) over redesignating TPS for Venezuelans in the United States, arguing that “an 18-month extension of TPS for Nicaragua instead of TPS redesignation falls short of the response needed to address the multiple and ongoing crisis.”
