via NY Times:

Tens of thousands of Hondurans who have lived in the United States for up to two decades must prepare to leave, government officials announced Friday, a decision that effectively spells the demise of a humanitarian program that has protected nearly half a million people who had sought refuge from unstable homelands.

The Trump administration is ending temporary protected status for Hondurans who have been allowed to live and work in the United States since 1999, after a hurricane that ravaged their country. With an estimated 86,000 people currently registered, Hondurans represent the second-largest group of foreigners who have benefited from the program.

 Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso responded:

Anyone who has been to Honduras in recent months knows we are sending innocent people back to one of the most chaotic and dangerous places in the world. We have clearly lost our moral compass.

via CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc):

CLINIC’s board chairman, Bishop Kevin J. Vann of the Diocese of Orange, California, said: “I got to know many Hondurans when I was in the Diocese of Fort Worth, as we had a relationship with the Diocese of Juticalpa. They not only were proud of their origins in Honduras, but contributed very positively to the life of the Diocese of Fort Worth and the economy of North Texas. Such action ignores all of this, and comes across as nativist and xenophobic.”

CLINIC outlined the clear case for redesignating TPS for Honduras in information presented to the administration.

“Due to staggering homicide rates and instability from the ongoing political crisis there, the administration can redesignate TPS for Honduras under the section of the law which allows for designation under extraordinary and temporary conditions,” said Jill Marie Bussey, CLINIC’s advocacy director.

via the Sisters of Mercy:

Today’s decision by the Trump Administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 57,000 Honduran nationals is the latest in a series of inhumane and indefensible decisions that are uprooting and disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands families and their communities.

The elimination of TPS will result in the removal of women and men who have been in the U.S. for 20 years, who worship by our side, who have families, own homes, pay taxes and work every day to improve their communities. These individuals will be forced to make the horrific choice of either bringing their U.S. citizen children to a dangerous and impoverished country in which they are strangers, or leaving them behind in the only country they have known.

“The termination of TPS for Honduran nationals is both disgraceful and immoral,” said Sister Patricia McDermott, RSM, president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. “Many of these individuals have been in the U.S. for 20 years, raising families and creating vibrant communities. Forcing their return to a country that is wracked by endemic violence and poverty will put their lives in danger, separate families, and have devastating effects on communities both in Honduras and the United States.”