STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump's administration is ending temporary protected status for thousands of immigrants to this country. TPS protected people from more than a dozen countries. Some Afghans have been told they're losing that status, along with 350,000 Venezuelans. For about 50,000 Hondurans, TPS expires on July 5. Abe Levine from member station WFDD in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has more.
ABE LEVINE, BYLINE: Brajan Funes' parents came to the United States in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch left them homeless in Honduras.
BRAJAN FUNES: Lots of folks lost access to water, transportation, roads. It was all just a disaster.
LEVINE: Funes joined them in 2000. He was 4 years old. Today, he, along with his parent, is one of over 1 million immigrants who depend on temporary protected status to remain in the United States. The program is a humanitarian designation for countries stricken by war, natural disaster or other catastrophes, giving recipients who live in the United States deportation protection and access to work permits. It's extended in increments of up to a year and a half, and beneficiaries have to routinely reapply to maintain their status. But this state of limbo hasn't kept Funes from forming deep ties.
FUNES: I'm an immigrant, and I'm a TPS immigrant. You know, I wasn't born on this land, but I want to be buried on it. And so this is home.
LEVINE: He works at a bank, and in his free time, he runs a pickup soccer league in Winston-Salem. It's become an important outlet for immigrants and their friends.
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LEVINE: Funes says it's important that they know whatever status they have.
FUNES: There's a community here that cares about them regardless of that. You know, whether you're a citizen or not, you do have rights when you're within the United States.
LEVINE: Within the landmark Immigration Act of 1990, Congress established TPS as a means of obtaining temporary legal status, not as a pathway to citizenship or permanent residency, commonly referred to as a green card.
HELEN PARSONAGE: That's been a terrible oversight by administrations in the past.
LEVINE: That's immigration attorney Helen Parsonage. She's been fielding more calls from TPS holders asking about their options before their status expires.
PARSONAGE: Because it's a lesser status in terms of durability and reliability. It can be taken away, as we are seeing.
LEVINE: In February, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem terminated TPS from more than 300,000 Venezuelans early, clearing the way for them to lose protection from deportation in April. A lower court tried to block the move, but the Supreme Court ultimately sided with Noem. Meanwhile, the battle over ending TPS early continues to play out in the lower court. Funes will lose his job when his status expires. As a child of migrants, he can apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - or DACA - but immigration authorities aren't processing new applications right now.
FUNES: So, yeah, I don't know. It's a wait and see type of thing, and it is nerve-racking. (Laughter) I have a cheesy "Star Wars" quote that I kind of keep top of mind.
LEVINE: Channeling Princess Leia, he says...
FUNES: Hope is like the sun - if you only believe in it when you see it, you'll never make it through the night.
LEVINE: He says he clings to that quote in hopes of some kind of solution.
For NPR News, I'm Abe Levine in Winston-Salem.
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