Bill Text: CA SJR17 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Temporary Protected Status.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-04-30 - Ordered to inactive file on request of Senator Hueso. [SJR17 Detail]
Download: California-2017-SJR17-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
April 09, 2018 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Senate Joint Resolution | No. 17 |
| Introduced by Senator Hueso (Coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez Fletcher) |
January 17, 2018 |
Relative to federal Temporary Protected Status.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 17, as amended, Hueso.
Temporary Protected Status: El Salvador. Status.
This measure would condemn the decision to end the Temporary Protected Status designation for El Salvador. Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. The measure would also urge the United States Congress to enact a bipartisan permanent solution for Salvadorans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and Sudanese with Temporary Protected Status.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, The Temporary Protected Status program was enacted after President George H.W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990; and
WHEREAS, The program provides temporary lawful status and work authorization to people from countries affected by armed conflict, natural disaster, famine, or other strife in their home country; and
WHEREAS, In 2001, El Salvador was devastated by two massive earthquakes that killed more than 1000 people and left one million others homeless. In response to those devastating natural disasters, the United States granted Salvadoran citizens Temporary Protected Status; and
WHEREAS, Since the time that these devastating natural events struck El Salvador, the United States has extended Temporary Protected Status to displaced Salvadorans 11 times; and
WHEREAS, The last time it Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans was extended, in 2016, the Obama administration found that El Salvador was still struggling to recover from the earthquakes, and that the “fiscal, unemployment, and security situations in El Salvador remain poor”; and
WHEREAS, The largest concentration of protected Salvadorans live in California, according to a study by the Center for Migration Studies and an estimated 49,000 people put down roots and work legally in the state; and
WHEREAS, On Monday, January 8, 2018, an official from the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement that said that they would be ending Salvadorans’ Temporary Protected Status. This announcement came just weeks after more than 45,000 Haitians lost protections granted after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake; and
WHEREAS, It is estimated that over 260,000 Salvadorans who have been living and working in this country for over a decade will be displaced; and
WHEREAS, In addition, more than 50,000 children in California were born in the United States, but have Salvadoran parents who now face deportation due to losing their Temporary Protected Status. Those American children will either have to return move to El Salvador with their parents, stay in the United States and separate from their parents, or stay with their parents in United States, but face their parents’ potential deportation; and
WHEREAS, Individuals with Temporary Protected Status are part of the state’s economy and social fabric; and
WHEREAS, Twenty percent of Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status arrived in California before 15 years of age and 97 percent of all of the Temporary Protected Status population from El Salvador are over 25 years of age; and
WHEREAS, Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status in California have lived in the United States for an average of 22 years; and
WHEREAS, Thirty-nine thousand four hundred workers in California are Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status. The leading industry of Salvadorans is construction work; and
WHEREAS, California would lose $2.4 billion dollars from the state’s gross domestic production annually without Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status; and
WHEREAS, The unemployment rate for Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status is low—5 percent, similar to the national rate; and
WHEREAS, Eight thousand seven hundred households of Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status in California have mortgages; and
WHEREAS, The Trump administration’s decision will likely have its greatest impact in southern California, home to the country’s largest population of immigrants from El Salvador; and
WHEREAS, Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status have already fulfilled many of the requirements for lawful permanent residence and the overwhelming majority hold at least one job, pay taxes, and pay for their own insurance, have no record of criminal conduct, and have demonstrated that they will advance to become full members of society through educational achievement, home ownership, entrepreneurship, and raising children in the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Trump administration’s decision to end the Temporary Protected Status designation for El Salvador aligns with the vulgar and racist comments reportedly made by President Trump on January 11, 2018, when meeting with a group of bipartisan legislators at the White House to discuss the possible extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; now, therefore, be it and
WHEREAS, The Trump administration has also announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for nationals of Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan, countries that are still recovering from an earthquake, a hurricane, and a genocide, respectively, that each resulted in thousands of deaths and widespread displacement; and
WHEREAS, The Trump administration will decide in July 2018 whether to extend or terminate Temporary Protected Status for Honduras, a country also devastated by hurricane; and
WHEREAS, The loss of Temporary Protected Status would impact over 150,000 Haitian, Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Sudanese nationals living in the United States with that status, as well as their families, communities, employers, and the California economy in much the same way that the loss of Temporary Protected Status affects Salvadorans; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature condemns the decision to end the Temporary Protected Status designation for El Salvador; Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Legislature urges the United States Congress to enact a bipartisan, permanent solution for Salvadorans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and Sudanese with Temporary Protected Status; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.
