Hurricane relief is urgently needed in the Bahamas, say many on the ground there. Following being hit by Hurricane Dorian, 17 percent of Bahamians are homeless yet Trump has denied temporary protection status (TPS).
“The status would allow Bahamians to work and live in the U.S. until it is deemed safe to return home. The same status is currently granted to over 300,000 people living in the U.S. from 10 countries, including the victims of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake,” NBC News reported.
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TPS is normally given to people who would face extreme hardship if forced to return to their homelands if the country has been devastated by armed conflict or natural disasters. As such TPS is limited to people who are already in the United States. So, Bahamians who haven’t already come to the U.S. would not receive such protections.
“Some countries hit by hurricanes have been designated for TPS in the past. In the late 1990s, Honduras and Nicaragua were designated for TPS after Hurricane Mitch. And more recently, Nepal was designated for TPS in 2015 after an earthquake killed more than 8,000 people there,” CNN reported.
Right now, Bahamians with the correct travel documents can come to the U.S. temporarily, but will not receive work permits.
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