Speech #CREC-2018-01-18-pt1-PgS282_t0

I want to acknowledge legislation that was introduced. I join my colleagues, Senators Van Hollen, Feinstein, and others, who will provide a legislative fix, S. 2144, the SECURE Act. I am pleased that the outline of the Durbin-Graham compromise immigration legislation includes relief for TPS recipients. The legislation will make changes to the diversity visa lottery program and reallocate half of the annual visas to recipients of TPS. That would amount to about 27,000 visas annually. Under the draft, TPS recipients would maintain legal status and work authorization while awaiting visas. This would give TPS recipients protection from deportation, work authorizations, green cards, and ultimately a pathway to citizenship. After the TPS backlog is cleared-- which could take roughly a decade to do, given the 300,000-plus recipients of TPS in the United States today--the annual visas would be allocated to nationals of priority countries. In the past few months, the Department of Homeland Security has placed termination dates on TPS for those from El Salvador and Haiti and has extended the deadline for a decision on Honduras. These individuals are at risk. We need to act.