130,000 TPS Holders are Providing Essential Services During the Coronavirus Crisis

According to a report published today by the Center for American Progress outlines the risks that TPS holders are taking providing essential services while their legal status remains in limbo.

Demographic profiles of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders illustrate how much their labor sustains essential sectors like food, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis. 

As highlighted in the Center for American Progress Report:

“The average TPS holder from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti has lived in the United States for 22 years. Now, in addition to caring for their own families, more than 130,000 of these individuals—like so many other Americans—are providing a service to the entire nation at great personal risk. Whether they are providing care to older Americans in nursing homes, growing or processing food in plants to ensure that grocery store shelves remain stocked, or cleaning hospitals that treat COVID-19 patients, many thousands of TPS holders are keeping the country safe every day.”

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez is a former union organizer and former editor of Minneapolis based Workday Minnesota, the first online labor news publication in the state. Filiberto focused on longform and investigative journalism. He has covered topics including prison labor, labor trafficking, and union fights in the Twin Cities.