Boston Foundation statement on El Salvador TPS decision

Boston – The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, today released the following statement concerning the decision to end Temporary Protected Status designation for more than 200,000 Salvadorans in the United States, including an estimated 6,000 in Massachusetts.

“For the second time in two months, the Boston Foundation is coming forward to express our profound disappointment at the decision to end Temporary Protected Status for a group of people who have sought and succeeded in building new lives in the United States. The thousands of Salvadorans affected by today’s ruling, along with the Haitians who learned their fate in November, are being expected to return home to nations that acknowledge they are ill-equipped to support them.

“While protected status is indeed “temporary,” the focus on ending these programs pays little regard to the actual situations at hand in Haiti and El Salvador. It also ignores an economic reality here at home. Studies suggest rather than burdening the communities in which they live, TPS recipients and their families are holding jobs and paying taxes. Ending temporary status follows the letter of the law but ignores its spirit. We hope that over the next 18 months, Congress and the White House recognize that this decision only serves to undermine families and give TPS recipients a dire choice – go underground here at home or return to a country where their economic and physical safety is at risk.”

******

The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of more than $1 billion. In 2017, the Foundation and its donors paid $130 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of more than $194 million. The Foundation is a close partner in philanthropy with its donors, with more than 1,000 separate charitable funds established either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. It also serves as a major civic leader, think tank and advocacy organization, commissioning research into the most critical issues of our time and helping to shape public policy designed to advance opportunity for everyone in Greater Boston. The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), a distinct operating unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations and corporations around the globe. For more information about the Boston Foundation and TPI, visit tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.