Syrians with temporary status brace for Trump decision
Stripping them of legal status may encourage other countries to force Syrians to return home
Targeted by the Syrian regime after providing humanitarian supplies to civilians fleeing air strikes, Mohammad Alala and his wife escaped in 2012, eventually obtaining student visas to enter the United States.
They received a form of temporary protected status (TPS) extended to Syrians in the United States because of Syria’s civil war.
After moving to Florida, Alala found work as an engineer and his wife, Dania Kassas, enrolled in graduate school. Now, the couple’s ability to remain in the United States legally is uncertain. Their asylum claims are unresolved and TPS for Syrians will expire at the end of March unless the Department of Homeland Security decides to extend it. The decision, due by January 30, will affect some 6,000 Syrians.
If their status is withdrawn, they could lose the ability to work in the United States and face possible deportation back to Syria, where the war rages into a seventh year.
Deep scepticism
President Donald Trump’s administration has demonstrated deep scepticism toward TPS, a programme established by Congress in 1990 to provide temporary reprieve for immigrants whose home countries face disaster or conflict.
Since Trump took office, DHS has announced an end to protections for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.
Alala said he came under suspicion from the government of President Bashar Al Assad when he refused to participate in pro-government rallies.
He also quietly helped families fleeing government air strikes with humanitarian aid.
Alala and his family are awaiting a decision on their asylum application, which they made in 2013.
In the meantime, he dreads the prospect of being sent back. “The war is still going on in most of Syria, so it’s not safe from my perspective for anyone to go back there,” he said. There is widespread agreement that civilians are in grave danger in Syria, a fact acknowledged by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a speech this month.