DHS extended Temporary Protected Status for some. Others wonder about additional refugee groups

Published July 12, 2023 at 4:01 AM EDT

Moussa Sako, an asylum-seeker from Mali, covers his face — Moussa Sako, an asylum-seeker from Mali who survived 22 days aboard a Mauritanian boat drifting in the Atlantic Ocean, covers his face during an interview in Guadalajara, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021. Sako was rescued by the Spanish Air Force on April 26, 2021. His boat was spotted by chance more than 310 miles from the Spanish island of El Hierro — "in the middle of nowhere," as one of the rescuers described it. They had set off 22 days earlier from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. Only three of 63 people who boarded survived.

In June, the Department of Homeland Security extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people living in the U.S. after having fled instability in El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. Some refugee groups and lawmakers are advocating for those protections to be extended to migrants from other countries facing conflict, too.

In January, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and Rep. Mike Carey (R) wrote to President Biden asking him to include Mauritanians living in the U.S. in either TPS or Deferred Enforced Departure programs.

On Cincinnati Edition, we discuss what the TPS extension means locally and the efforts to extend those protections to more refugees.

Guests:

Alexandria Lubens-Otto, Esq., managing attorney, Immigrant and Refugee Law Center, adjunct faculty, University of Cincinnati College of Law
Ousmane Sow, leader in the Mauritanian community
Bryan Wright, executive director, Cincinnati Compass

Listen to Cincinnati Edition live at noon M-F. Audio for this segment will be uploaded after 4 p.m. ET.

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