'Temporary' Status Means Never Having to Go Home

By Mark Krikorian on May 5, 2010

Well, knock me over with a feather! The "Temporary" Protected Status for a total of about 70,000 Honduran and Nicaraguan illegal aliens, which was set to expire in July, has been extended til January of 2012. You know when they were first given this "temporary" amnesty? Almost 11 years ago. Only in Washington, where $1 billion is chump change and terrorism is a "man-caused disaster," would 11 years be considered temporary.


Here's what DHS offers as the rationale for the latest extension of this amnesty: "[T]he conditions that prompted the TPS designation in 1999 following the environmental disaster caused by Hurricane Mitch persist and prevent Honduras from adequately handling the return of its nationals." Baloney — Honduras is obviously a poor country, but the airports work and the government exercises its authority over the national territory. Rather, it's the immigration version of the Brezhnev Doctrine — once an illegal alien is given some kind of legal status, no matter how "temporary," the government will go to almost any lengths to make sure he keeps it permanently.