January 9, 2018. This article is about immigrants who are recipients of Temporary Protective Status (TPS), many who are elderly, that have worked hard and paid their taxes and contributed to social security. The article goes on to discuss how Trump has ended TPS for El Salvador and these recipients face deportation. Honduras and Haiti are still under consideration. The author cites a study by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) that shows that deporting TPS recipients from Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti would have detrimental effects on the economy. These include costing taxpayers $3.1 billion dollars, and long term effects such as a $6.9 billion reduction to Social Security and Medicare and a $45.2 billion reduction in GDP over a decade. TPS recipients are concerned that they will not receive the benefits that they have paid for. However, the article goes on to discuss how under demanding conditions they may be able to access them.

Little is known about the specific demographic makeup of the nearly 200,000 TPS recipients from El Salvador, but Yanez said many of his friends are like him: elderly TPS recipients who are still working and have been paying taxes in the United States for decades. As they gear up for the possibility of mass deportations of TPS recipients, Yanez said he and his friends are having lots of conversations about being forced to return to their countries of origin, and whether or not they will be able to access the benefits owed to them.

David Kallick, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute’s Immigration Research Initiative, told Rewire that the tax contributions of TPS recipients have been “the tip of the iceberg.” They have made their biggest contribution to the economy as workers, and in many instances, job creators. The Journal on Migration and Human Security reported that 11 percent of TPS recipients from El Salvador, Haiti, and Honduras are self-employed, having created jobs for themselves and others.

“As TPS ends and people are forced to leave or they are deported, accessing their benefits isn’t really straightforward. They have paid into Medicare, that they presumably will not get. When it comes to Social Security, I think it’s a very complicated question that requires individuals to consult with tax advisers and immigration attorneys,” Kallick.

Here is the link to Rewire.