Charlie Crist spearheads letter calling for extended TPS for Nicaraguans

Charlie Crist gives up his seat.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist is spearheading the call to redesignate and extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nicaraguans fleeing the Daniel Ortega regime.

In a letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Crist leads a bipartisan group of Florida Congress members in calling for the extended TPS. Currently, there are more than 60,000 Nicaraguans in the U.S. at risk of persecution if they are forcefully repatriated to Nicaragua.

“I am deeply concerned for members of Florida’s vibrant Nicaraguan community at risk of deportation if Temporary Protected Status is not extended,” Crist said in a statement. “The dictator Daniel Ortega’s repressive socialist regime poses a threat to the over 60,000 Nicaraguans living in the United States, and their forced repatriation would put them at high risk of political persecution, arrest, and violence. Much like Florida’s freedom-loving Venezuelan and Cuban communities, we must stand by our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters who want freedom and safety from persecution. ¡Viva Nicaragua libre!”

The letter cites Nicaragua President Ortega’s violent crackdown on political opposition in recent years and Nicaragua’s deteriorating social, political and economic circumstances.

“Recent action by Daniel Ortega and his socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) Party to jail and torture political opposition during the 2021 election demonstrate their commitment to violence and repression of the Nicaraguan People, while justice eludes the families of up to 600 peaceful protesters murdered by the regime in 2018,” the letter states. “Since then, Ortega further solidified his dictatorial rule by systematically dismantling all democratic processes of government.”

Several organizations are backing the effort, including the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Miami Freedom Project, American Friends Service Committee, Immigrant Action Alliance, Immigration Hub, Farmworkers Association of Florida, Nicaragua American Human Rights Alliance, Hope CommUnity Center and Alianza Americas.

“Florida is home to a vibrant community of Nicaraguans many of whom are undocumented and have resided in the U.S. for years while unrest in Nicaragua continues,” the letter states. “Since the initial designation in 1998, conditions in Nicaragua continue to deteriorate. The combined effect of the Ortega regime’s socio-political oppression, failed response to the COVID pandemic, and back-to-back hurricanes in early 2020 crippled economic opportunity of the already second-poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.”

The letter comes just days after the Department of Homeland Security extended Venezuela’s Temporary Protected Status for another 18 months, impacting around 343,000 people.

“Congress gave the administration the power to grant Temporary Protected Status to provide humanitarian relief to citizens whose countries were suffering from protracted conflict,” the letter states. “Given the growing political, economic, and human rights crises, we strongly urge you to redesignate and extend the original 1998 TPS designation and to protect tens of thousands of Nicaraguan men, women, and children who would face great risk to their safety should they return to Nicaragua at this time.”