José Palma has lived more than half his life in the United States. He has four citizen children and has been meeting the requirements of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 25 years. immigration benefit which would end on September 9.
“This is where we have built our lives. This is where we belong,” Palma, national coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, told Enlace Latino NC .
The current Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Salvadorans expires on September 9. By law, the government was required to announce its decision (to extend, terminate, or not decide) 60 days prior to that date. However, that deadline passed without any official announcement.
If the government does not make a decision in time, the law states that the protection is automatically extended for six months. However, an alert published by USCIS on August 12 It indicates that the designation and its benefits end on that date, without mentioning that automatic extension.
More than 170,000 Salvadoran immigrants in the United States will be affected.
“It’s not the first time they’ve kept us here until the very last minute,” explained Ana Miriam Carpio Vázquez, founder of Unisal, an organization based in Charlotte that works with the Salvadoran community in North Carolina.
Who are the Salvadorans with TPS?
TPS is a immigration protection The United States grants this designation to people from a country experiencing war, a natural disaster, or another serious crisis that prevents their safe return. While the designation is in effect, those who have it cannot be deported and can work legally in the country.
El Salvador received it in 2001, after two earthquakes left the country in ruins. At that time, nearly 400,000 Salvadorans qualified for the program.
Since then, the government has extended protection eleven times, in periods of between 12 and 18 months. Only once did he attempt to end it: in 2018, Donald Trump's first administration announced its completion. But the decision was never implemented because a federal judge blocked it that same year in the case Ramos v. Nielsen, and the status remained in effect until the next extension.
Over the years, the number of protected individuals decreased for various reasons: some They adjusted their immigration status Others returned to El Salvador on their own, and still others lost their TPS. They were deported.
Currently, the National TPS Alliance It estimates that there are approximately 170,000 people who are still protected by that status: all of them for 25 years.
A life in the United States
Palma's children were all born in the United States: the oldest is 25 and the youngest is 8. His wife is also from El Salvador, but she has permanent residency. Neither of them can imagine life anywhere else, at least not today.
“After decades, what one wants is to continue having the life one has had, and to continue fighting to achieve those dreams that one has not yet achieved,” Palma stated.
What is at stake this September 9th is not just the extension or not of an immigration procedure: it is the radical change in the lives of thousands of people.
Uncertainty is palpable in the Salvadoran community. In Asheville, customers of Patty's Pupuseria (The busiest Salvadoran restaurant in the area) is worried. Some started asking about TPS weeks before the deadline.
“Many said they were going to extend it,” Patty, the restaurant owner, told Enlace Latino NC But that certainty faded. “Now we don’t know,” he said. He added that several of his clients didn’t realize the date was so close.
The economic impact
The end of TPS doesn't just affect the families who have it. It also impacts the places where they work. "Many companies are speaking out because they're realizing they're losing employees who have been with them for 10 or 20 years," Palma said.
Carpio Vázquez described a community that put down economic roots beyond employment. “I’m talking about thousands of families who pay taxes, who own property, who own businesses, who have employees,” he said.
In North Carolina, that community is concentrated in Charlotte, where the Salvadoran consulateBut it has also grown in Asheville and Wilmington. In Durham and Raleigh, the Salvadoran population is the second largest, after the Mexican population. Across the state line in Greenville, South Carolina, the Salvadoran population has also increased. Many arrived from other states, bought homes, and opened their own businesses.
Palma added that the impact would also be felt in El Salvador, where many families depend on money sent by their relatives with TPS from the United States.
The problem with the temporality argument
Palma says the argument is repeated every time something is published about TPS. “Most people say 'temporary is temporary' and they say it because they hear it in anti-immigrant rhetoric,” she explained.
What that argument omits, according to him, is how the program works. The law requires that, before each renewal, the government study the conditions in the country of origin.
For 25 years, those studies concluded that El Salvador was not in a position to receive its people back. The latest extension, from January 2025He cited storms and heavy rains in 2023 and 2024 in areas still affected by the 2001 earthquakes.
He also said that the law omits who the current beneficiaries are. “We’re not talking about José Palma, the one who arrived young,” he said. “We’re talking about a person who has prepared himself, contributed here in the United States, and started a family,” he maintained. “Now, the discussion isn’t just about the person with TPS, but about four U.S. citizens who would also be affected.”
Waiting for a decision
Meanwhile, the wait continues. Palma says the community needs to prepare for any of the possible scenarios, even though none are confirmed.
“Right now, what remains is to try to continue working to find a solution, perhaps in the short term, and at the same time continue working to find a long-term solution,” he said.
In Charlotte, Carpio Vázquez says she receives calls every day from families asking what will happen. She remains optimistic and hopes for an 18-month extension, like the previous ones. “I have a lot of hope,” she said. “We expect at least that.”
Just days before September 9, the government has not issued any decision indicating that the program will continue. On the contrary, on September 3, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent a statement to employers reminding them that the protection ends this Wednesday.
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TPS beneficiaries
According to data from the National TPS Alliance and the Fwd.us organizationOf the approximately 170,000 Salvadorans who currently have this immigration protection, the majority are concentrated in five states: California, with 36,000 beneficiaries; Texas, with 28,000; Maryland, with 23,000; New York, with 17,000; and Virginia, with 11,000. These five states account for more than half of the Salvadoran population under TPS.
The number of Salvadorans with TPS in North Carolina is uncertain, although Unisal estimates at least 10,000.
As the most recent reference on the overall presence of the program in the state, figures from March 2025 show The National Immigration Forum North Carolina has 32,420 TPS beneficiaries in total, although that figure corresponds to people of all nationalities who were protected by the program —including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras and Ukraine— and not exclusively to Salvadorans.
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