LANGLEY PARK, Md. (FRIDAY, MARCH 23) _ CASA, the area’s largest immigrant service and advocacy organization, announced Friday that it is challenging the unconstitutional dismantling of the program that has granted work permits for Salvadorans and allowed them to live in the United States legally for more than 15 years.

In January, the Trump Administration announced it would be terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for El Salvador, ripping apart the lives of approximately 200,000 Salvadorans in the U.S. who benefit from TPS, along with their families, including hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizen children.

“The Trump Administration’s actions and comments make it clear that the termination was based not on a reasoned consideration of country conditions in El Salvador, as required by law, but rather motivated by racial animus and a desire to discriminate against Latinos,” said Nicholas Katz, in charge of CASA’s legal department. “Such actions violate the fundamental constitutional protections that all persons living the United States enjoy under the Fifth Amendment, regardless of immigration status, and fail to meet the minimal standards prescribed by law for the termination of TPS.”

The lawsuit joins three others that have been filed across the country but arises from the particular history of the relationship between El Salvador and the United States, country conditions in El Salvador, and ongoing animus by the administration directed toward the Latino community.  It is an issue of particular importance to the DC region which hosts one of the largest Salvadoran-American communities in the country.

Affected individuals and families, members of the litigation team, community leaders and Union representatives were present during the press conference.