INS’ FAILURE TO PROVIDE WORK PERMITS FOR HONDURAN IMMIGRANTS WITH TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS LEADS TO LAWSUIT

Immigrant advocacy groups alleging that the INS has undermined the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) given Hondurans in the US following Hurricane Mitch, which struck Central America during October 1998, have filed a class action lawsuit in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.  A person with TPS is also entitled to employment authorization.  The complaint alleges that INS officials in Vermont, where many of these TPS applications are processed demanded unnecessary documentation, causing significant delays in granting TPS.

The Vermont Service Center received almost 36,000 applications for TPS before the deadline for applications ended last August.  Of these, 21,000 were sent back with requests for more information.  Under INS regulations, applicants had to show they were in the US on December 30, 1998 and had not traveled out of the US since January 5, 1999.  Vermont officials told people they would have to prove they were in the US before December 30, 1998, and other people were told they had to prove they had not left the US since their arrival.  It is these improper demands that are behind the suit, as well as the Vermont Service Center’s failure to provide temporary work authorization while the applications were being processed.

INS spokesperson Bill Strassberger admits that there have been some problems in the Vermont Service Center caused by their misunderstanding of the regulations implementing TPS for Hurricane Mitch victims.  He says officials have clarified the requirements for the Vermont Service Center and that applications should now be processed more quickly.

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