Guidelines for Press Releases for TPS Termination

• TPS advocacy is centered around the concern and fear that people will be sent back to their countries of origin before they are sufficiently safe for their return.
• Statements should focus on country conditions and why the U.S. government should not put human lives at risk by prematurely terminating TPS.
• Because many TPS holders have been in the U.S. for many years—because their countries have been unsafe for many years —faith advocates object to breaking up families and ripping hardworking people out of the U.S. economy and society. These key points should be woven into any press statement.
• TPS is the law. Country conditions in Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador call for extending TPS for another 18 months to protect people from being forcibly returned to harm.
• TPS is the embodiment of American and faith values from across traditions, and it is the duty of any administration to follow the law and uphold these cherished values.

Press Release Template TPS Termination

Headline: [Faith organization decries administration’s cruel decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador]

[FAITH ORGANIZATION] condemns the administration’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for [COUNTRY]. TPS protects individuals and families who would otherwise be in harm’s way in their countries of origin, which are recovering from catastrophic events such as natural disaster, war, famine, or disease. As [PEOPLE OF FAITH] we believe in the dignity of human life and denounce a decision to return people to conditions where their lives will be immediately put in danger.

[INSERT QUOTE FROM LEADER OF YOUR ORGANIZATION describing country conditions--check recent reports from the United Nations or International Office of Migration--and stating that returning people to those conditions is a violation of American, moral, and faith values.]

[INSERT QUOTE FROM TPS HOLDER or family member of TPS holder in your congregation or community and what it means to have to leave the U.S. and return to unsafe conditions.]

[INSERT QUOTE FROM LEADER OF YOUR ORGANIZATION about concern with breaking up families and removing people from their communities. End by calling on Congress to act to protect vulnerable people.]

*Guideline and sample also available in the TPS Interfaith Toolkit: http://www.interfaithimmigration.org/issues/tps/