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By Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone

Taking a closer look at notable city data—and interesting numbers. 

450,000: Across the U.S. about 450,000 residents have an immigration status known as temporary protected status (TPS)—and it’s under threat. In simple terms, TPS is one way our nation offers refuge to people fleeing extraordinary hardship such as natural disasters, war, or extreme violence. TPS holders can legally work in the U.S. and have to renew their status every 18 months. The status was originally intended as temporary relief for recipients from about ten countries, but in practice the federal government has continued to extend TPS for years and, in some cases, decades due to the continued dangerous conditions in these countries. TPS does not include a path to citizenship or permanent residency, and since taking office, the Trump administration has been working to dismantle it. Some may lose their status early in 2020.

12,000: In Massachusetts, there are more than 12,000 TPS holders. Their futures and that of their families hang in the balance.

20 years: Honduras was designated for TPS in 1999 – 20 years ago – after Hurricane Mitch caused extensive damage. Similarly, El Salvador was designated for TPS after the 2001 earthquake, and it has been renewed ever since. After decades of implied secure status, the Trump administration canceled TPS for these countries and others including Haiti and Nepal. These TPS holders remain here thanks to a reprieve by the courts (although Salvadorans were just granted work permits for another year). Hondurans and Salvadorans with TPS have been living in the U.S. for years and have built lives here. Immigrants from other countries with TPS may not have been in the U.S. as long, but each time their status is renewed they are further connected to their communities. Ending TPS would split up families, send people back to countries they may not have a connection to anymore, and potentially put them in danger by forcing them back to countries still experiencing instability.

273,000+: There are more than 273,000 U.S. born children who have at least one parent with TPS. The effects of ending TPS reaches far beyond the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who hold that status. Families with mixed immigration and citizenship statuses are facing hard decisions as they grapple with the possibility that some members may have to leave the country. The extension recently granted to Salvadoran TPS holders, and hopefully soon to other countries, offers some relief but doesn’t address the real issue. It’s time to rewrite the rules and give TPS holders options for staying in the country where they have made their home and contributed for so many years.

$6.9 billion: Along with the human cost, ending TPS would be a hit to our economy. Because TPS holders are authorized to work in the U.S., they pay into Social Security and Medicare. More than 80% of TPS holders have jobs and removing them from the workforce would result in a loss of $6.9 billion to Social Security and Medicare over ten years. The gross domestic product would also lose $4.5 billion over ten years if all TPS holders were removed from the workforce.

$967 million: If TPS holders were removed from the workforce, businesses would be faced with nearly $1 billion in turnover costs to hire and train people to fill those vacant positions. Some industries would be hit harder than others. Last year the Massachusetts Senior Care Association raised concerns about the effects ending TPS – especially for Haitians – would affect the healthcare industry. About 4,300 Haitians work in nursing facilities across the state and nationally around 1 million immigrants work as certified nursing assistants, personal care attendants, and home health aides.

1 minute:  I’d like to ask you to take one minute to imagine what it would mean to you to know that at any moment someone could tell you that you have to move far away. Think about how it would feel to have to leave your job, school, friends, family, faith community, neighbors, and your home. Now imagine that you are a refugee from a crisis and you’ve already had to do this before. You overcame that difficult experience, started a new life, and established stability in a new place. But now you are being told to go back to a place you no longer know, where you have no job or home, and where violence, extreme poverty, and instability await. Now consider that you may have to leave your child, sibling, or parent behind, because it’s safer for them to stay here. For most of us, this would be horrifying, and we wouldn’t want to manufacture this pain for others. America is big enough, prosperous enough, and humane enough, not to put people we’ve opened our hearts and country to through this. America needs to create a path to citizenship once and for all for those with TPS.

Data-based decision making is at the core of how the City of Somerville develops policy and sets priorities. Every day we check the latest 311 stats, and throughout the week we meet for in-depth review of departmental data and city trends. The Data Download column shares some of the data we’ve been reviewing recently, as well as interesting updates. To see more Somerville Data, visit the online Somerville Data Farm at www.somervillema.gov/datafarm.