TPS Rears its Ugly Head Again: More Syrians Protected, Work Authorized

Temporary Protected Status (TPS), the federal government’s long-standing scheme to give illegal aliens de facto amnesty, has just been taken to a new, scandalous and, considering heightened terrorism concerns, frightening level.
 
The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that more than 8,000 Syrians currently living in the United States will be allowed to remain for at least 18 months. If history is a guide, and in the case of TPS it always is, those 8,000 including at least some illegal aliens and 2,500 not previously TPS-protected are unlikely to ever return to Syria. Instead, they will receive work authorization, and taxpayer-funded affirmative benefits even though a majority of Americans oppose the 10,000 Syrian resettlement program President Obama has imposed.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson announcing that Syrians would be “carefully” vetted.

 
TPS should mean that people will return home as soon as the extraordinary conditions that made providing safe haven necessary. But TPS has almost never been honored in practice; rarely has there been a “T” in TPS.
 
A few examples from the 13 countries to which TPS has been granted include Nicaragua in 1999, post-Hurricane Mitch, El Salvador in 2001 after its earthquake and Haiti in 2010. Extensions of 18 months are routinely offered. Temporary as defined for Nicaraguans, Salvadorans and Haitians meant 17, 15 and six years.
 
Americans not only reject Syrian resettlement, but also overwhelmingly oppose mass immigration. A new poll showed that Americans by a 6 to 1 margin want immigration decreased, not increased as Obama has steadily done since his 2009 inauguration. The Obama administration’s message to citizens concerned about the terrorism threat that Syrians may represent: Tough luck!

Tell President Obama to keep compassion in line with common sense by helping more refugees in stable areas of the Middle East, instead of bringing a select few to the United States.