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Roughly 170,000 immigrants from El Salvador living in the U.S. are facing a looming deadline that could upend their lives. We are talking about the Temporary Protection Status program that provides these immigrants with the standing to live, go to school and work in the country legally. This protection status is set to expire on September 9. NPR immigration correspondent Vanessa Romo has been talking to one TPS recipient who has been sharing what it is like to live under the crushing weight of uncertainty.
VANESSA ROMO, BYLINE: Daysi Gonzales is a planner. She says that's just who she is at her core. But for most of her life, that planning has been limited to 18-month increments.
DAYSI GONZALES: I had to renew TPS every 18 months, so I knew that it was difficult to plan long-term, but I always wanted to set myself up for the most success.
ROMO: Last month, Gonzales started posting Instagram videos, chronicling what could be her final days in the country.
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GONZALES: Today is August 9. In exactly one month, I'm going to be forced to make a really tough decision - self-deport or risk everything that I've built here.
ROMO: Gonzales, who's now 31, arrived in the U.S. with her parents and older sister when she was 6 years old. They were visiting family in California, and she was promised a trip to Disneyland. But a month and a day into their six-month tourist visa, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake devastated El Salvador, and TPS was extended to Salvadorans who were in the country at the time.
GONZALES: That's how I've stayed in the country legally and been able to work.
ROMO: She's never been back. And the life she's built - it's quintessentially what's packaged as the American dream. She went to school, majored in communications. She's now a partner at the political consulting firm where she started off as an intern. She and her older sister own a home together. But now, all of those accomplishments have turned into a painful checklist of things she has to figure out how to dismantle by September 9.
GONZALES: Do I need to sell my house, and what does that timeline look like? You know, I recently paid off my car, and I was considering selling it but it might be a better option to have it shipped to El Salvador. Just - where am I going to live?
ROMO: Congress created TPS in 1990 to allow eligible migrants to live and work legally in the U.S. if they can't return safely to their home countries because of things like natural disasters and armed conflicts. But in his second term, Trump has ended TPS for more than 10 countries. And in June, the Supreme Court ruled that the president has virtually unrestrained power to end the program. Gonzales is sharing all of this with her followers, and her candid videos are resonating with thousands of people who are also facing down the same deadline.
GONZALES: A lot of people have reached out to me. You know, during this incredibly isolating and terrible time, it's nice to know that there are people with you and sharing their stories, too.
ROMO: Of course, the internet being the internet, her videos have open doors to critics. One of the most common things people post is something along the lines of the T in TPS is for temporary, to which she says...
GONZALES: I've tried to adjust status in different ways, but there are very limited legal options to adjust your status and there is no pathway to citizenship for TPS.
ROMO: One of the avenues she's trying now is through her younger brother, who was born in the U.S. When he turned 21 a couple of years ago, he successfully petitioned to gain their parents' legal residency. But Daysi and her sister were not included in that effort. They are now trying to petition to get their green cards through their mother, but that can be a 10- to 12-year wait. Still, she says, she wouldn't be able to get through these days without some joy. That includes one of her greatest loves - the K-pop band BTS. She's been to two concerts in the last three weeks.
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BTS: (Singing) Light it up like dynamite. Whoa.
(CHEERING)
ROMO: Over the weekend, she flew out to California for what could be her final visit with her family. In a post, she said they were in tears for much of the first day together. Her followers shared their own stories of possible goodbyes. She says her parents support her decision to self-deport if it comes down to it. Her greatest fear is being arrested by ICE and forced into detention. But when asked if she's bought a plane ticket, Gonzales says...
GONZALES: Like most Salvadorans, we're riding a hope until the ninth.
ROMO: She says she'll likely buy a ticket that night.
Vanessa Romo, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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