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Mass. immigrant families in jeopardy as Temporary Protection Status nears end

LYNN, Mass. — In the face of immigration reform, one immigrant in Massachusetts says he now must choose between leaving his children here or bringing them to a country he says is ‘incredibly dangerous.’

Many immigrant families are living in Massachusetts legally under what’s known as Temporary Protection Status (TPS), but President Donald Trump’s administration has stopped renewing their status.

Edenilson Granados moved from El Salvador to Massachusetts when he was 16 years old.

"That was one of the reasons I wanted to move here, you know. The United States is one of the best countries for any opportunity," he said. "If you do everything right, you can do better for your family."
Now a married father of three, Granados remains here on temporary protection status because his children were born here, they are U.S. citizens.

MORE: Immigrant groups protest separation of migrant families

Jessica Vaughan is the director of policy studies at the center of immigration studies over the phone.

“TPS was never meant to be a long-term indefinite status for people,” Jessica Vaughn, the Director of Policy Studies at the Center of Immigration Studies, told Boston 25 News over the phone. “It was meant to allow people to avoid returning to their home countries because of a specific event that was a disaster in their home country.”

Now, anyone under TPS must return to their home country or stay here illegally and face deportation. Granados has applied for a green card, but was told it could take three years.

“I can do whatever I can to protect my two little girls and my boy but at this point, there is nothing I can do,” Granados said.

Thirty employees at Kettle Cuisine are facing possible deportation and the soup company’s CEP is working hard to prevent that from happening.

“One of the reasons I have been so vocal is that I think this story needs to be understood more widely,” CEO Liam McLennon. “We're talking about people who are responsible, capable people who are trying to do the right thing.”

Granados says after watching video of children crying for their parents at the immigrant facility in Texas, tears fell from his eyes.

“I started to cry when I saw those things, because I feel like that could happen to me in the future and I feel like -- I don't know. We have TPS until September and we don't know what's going on after that,” Granados said.

MORE: Trump signs executive order ending migrant family separations