NEW YORK – The Department of Homeland Security today published Federal Register notices ending Temporary Protected Status for Nicaraguans and Hondurans, giving thousands who have held the status for a quarter century just 60 days before losing the legal right to live and work in the United States. The following response is from Manny Pastreich, President of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest property service workers union in the country, and among the largest with a majority immigrant membership.

“The ending of Haitian and Nicaraguan TPS will tear apart families, traumatize communities, and ravage workplaces across the country, including the families, communities and workplaces of many of our members across the East Coast. The decision is not unexpected but still shocking, as willful cruelty always is, yet we must not falter in our fight against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda in every arena – because when we fight, we win. Led by our brave union brother Gerald Michaud, 32BJ recently fought and won a lawsuit against the Trump administration that stopped the early termination of Haitian TPS. Now, as the administration ends Honduran and Nicaraguan TPS abruptly and potentially illegally, we will continue to resist. Whether in the courts, in the streets, or at the ballot box, we will stand up for our members, for the broader immigrant community, and for the greater good of this nation against an administration that always puts ideological malice before basic human decency.”

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With more than 185,000 members across 12 states and D.C., 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country. 32BJ SEIU members hail from 64 different countries and speak 28 different languages.