In 1990, the U.S. created the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program to provide humanitarian relief from deportation to immigrants from countries confronting war, natural disaster, and other calamities. Since TPS began, hundreds of thousands of hardworking recipients across the U.S. have made a good life here, building thriving families and communities and becoming a driver of economic growth and industries ranging from construction to food processing.

Now, the Trump administration has begun the abrupt termination of TPS. We, recipients of TPS who have been living in Massachusetts for as long as 20 years, are facing the threat of deportation and the separation and destabilization of our families, including our U.S. citizen children. In response, we have begun organizing ourselves under the name of the Massachusetts TPS Committee. We are organizing from within our communities to protect TPS where that is still possible and to win more permanent protection for TPS recipients.