Today, U.S. Representatives Donna Shalala (FL-27) and Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25) issued the following statements after introducing the Nicaraguan TPS Act of 2019, legislation that would provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Nicaraguan nationals already in the United States.
“Nicaraguans are facing a crisis from Ortega’s systemic human rights violations and assault on democratic institutions that have sparked protests and left hundreds dead this past year,” said Rep. Shalala. “Extending TPS for Nicaraguans is the right thing to do, especially as the Ortega regime escalates its human rights abuses. I’m proud to work with Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart on this important bipartisan legislation, and I remain committed in my effort to give TPS status to Venezuelans and extend status to those from El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, and other groups currently designated for TPS.”
“The Nicaraguan people have suffered for years under the oppressive Ortega regime, which has corrupted Nicaragua’s governmental institutions, illegitimately extended Ortega’s brutal grip on power, and installed Ortega’s wife as Vice President,” said Rep. Diaz-Balart.“Since the protest began in April 2018, the regime’s thugs have violently oppressed the pro-democracy opposition, censored and destroyed independent media, and committed egregious human rights abuses that have left hundreds dead and thousands injured. Human rights groups have condemned Ortega’s power grab and human rights abuses which include extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, censorship, forced disappearances, rape, and the holding of political prisoners. Shamefully, the Ortega regime enforces a depraved policy of “exile, jail, or death” to silence the opposition. I am proud, along with my friend and colleague Rep. Donna Shalala, to introduce the Nicaragua TPS Act of 2019 to allow Nicaraguans to remain in the United States until it is safe for them to return to Nicaragua.”
Text of the bill can be read HERE.
