Rep. Jimmy Panetta, local Salvadorans, call for immigration status protections

WATSONVILLE >> Soquel resident Nelson Membreno, 44, fled to the U.S. 22 years ago from El Salvador, to escape a bloody civil war.

In 2001, along with other Salvadorans, he became eligible for Temporary Protected Status. The federal program was created under in 1990 under President George H. W. Bush to serve refugees and immigrants whose homeland was deemed unsafe.

The status allows people to stay working and living in the U.S.as long as their country is deemed too dangerous to return to.

For those granted protection, there are stringent rules and application processes to follow, including reapplying every 18 months, background checks, having no felonies or no more than one misdemeanor.

"I want to say congratulations to all the TPS recipients because you made it," said Membreno. "It's difficult to be in this program, you have to be an almost perfect citizen. In my case, with this program I was able to go to college, I got a degree and I work in Capitola as a building inspector. I'm in charge of the building department right now."

Membreno is taking classes working toward an engineering degree, something he said he would not be able to accomplish without the protected status, he said.

Membreno was one of a handful of speakers at a press conference, hosted by Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel) on Friday at the Watsonville Community Room. The federal program's protections are granted to certain nationalities on a six- to 18-month basis, and Monday, Salvadorans will find out if they will continue to be included in the program after March 9.

Membreno said he's concerned about his daughters, one a college student and DACA recipient, and one an American citizen. If he were to be sent back, his daughters would remain in the U.S. without their father.

"It is nothing compared to what our children will suffer," Membreno said. "I will have to leave my kids, because they are so close to being in college. They will have a better life if they stay here, but they are going to lose their family, their mother and their father."

Salvadorans were included in the program after a devastating earthquake, followed by other severe natural disasters, ravaged their country and made way for gang infiltration, poverty and disease. The earthquake alone resulted in more than 1,000 casualties and 8,000 injured.

Storms, flooding, volcanic activity and widespread drought have contributed to El Salvador having one of the highest concentration of gang members in the world, a high crime rate and one of the highest homicide rates in the world, Panetta said.

"Clearly, El Salvador may be Central America's smallest country, but it does have a large amount of problems," Panetta said. "That is why TPS has not only continually been extended, it must continue to be extended today."

"If 200,000 Salvadorans in this country lost documentation statues and were deported, it would have a ripple effect on our country ... We are here to make sure the administration and President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security understand that they must renew. We are calling on them to renew the TPS," Panetta said. "It would clearly affect their families, our friends, our neighbors by sending people back to a place that is dangerous and that many of them don't know. Today we call on the Trump Administration to not turn their back on these people."

In California, there are more than 45,000 Salvadoran TPS recipients, according to Panetta.

One of them is Tomas Escobar, a small business owner and a volunteer football coach, who was at the event.

Escobar said TPS gave him the opportunity to get his license and open a bank account, but he said he is worried for his daughters should he be deported. Escobar first came to the U.S. illegally before gaining TPS status when it became available in 2001.

"I have my daughter in college. My small daughter is a U.S. citizen. My daughters will be the ones more affected just because this is the only country that they know," Escobar said. "Thank you for taking us into account."

Diana Escobar, 13, attended the press conference with her parents, who are TPS recipients, because she said she wanted to support them and other compatriots.

"I want to help them, their friends, family and others who need help to keep their TPS," Diana said. "[The administration] should keep helping these people in need so we can grow as a community."