MENDOTA, Calif. — With the September 9 deadline marking the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Salvadorans in the US having come and gone, the Trump administration appears to be keeping the protections in place, at least for now.

That’s welcome news for more than 170,000 Salvadorans whose legal status in the country was at risk.

Still, for some, the continued uncertainty over the fate of the program — which grants temporary protection from deportation and work authorization — and its many beneficiaries is a concern.

“People might be happy about it, but that ‘further notice’ can come tomorrow and say ‘that’s it. It’s over,’ you know. Or, it can come two days later,” said Mendota Mayor Víctor Martínez during a Wednesday roundtable in this Central Valley city with Rep. Adam Gray, D-Merced. Mendota is home to one of the largest Salvadoran communities in the country.

Martinez, who changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 2024, was referring to an announcement Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which administers the TPS program, that a decision on protections for Salvadorans “will be made at the appropriate time.” The agency added, “Until such announcement is made, Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection.”

Martínez, the first Salvadoran elected to the Mendota council, told Gray that the wording lacks certainty.

“This is why it’s very important for us to work and advocate for these people,” he said, referring as well to beneficiaries of the Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), “because these families have been here for 20-plus years already.”

The National TPS Alliance, a national grassroots coalition of TPS beneficiaries, echoed Martínez, writing in a social media post, “NO ONE deserves to live with this much uncertainty,” adding, “this uncertainty is NOT just a deadline on a calendar. It impacts jobs, families, and their ability to plan for the future.”

Salvadoran TPS recipients nationwide contribute north of $5.4 billion to the national economy, according to FWD.us. Additionally, they pay $1.5 billion in local, state and federal taxes.

TPS protections for Salvadorans was first granted in 1990 and have been renewed by successive administrations. TPS holders must renew their status every 18 months. Many Salvadoran TPS holders have lived in the country for decades.

Critics of the TPS program, designed for individuals fleeing violence or natural disasters in their home countries, was meant to be temporary. In 2018 during his first term Trump sought to end the protections. Legal challenges kept them in place until a June 2026 ruling by the Supreme Court that cleared the way for their termination.

Some 11 countries have already lost their TPS designations under this second Trump term, impacting more than 1 million individuals.

Martínez insisted the only long-term solution is comprehensive immigration reform. There have been 309 bipartisan immigration-related bills introduced in Congress from 2015 through 2024, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The 15 bills that passed contained minor changes to immigration law, the center said.

Gray, who was elected in 2024, said he supports all immigration-related legislation because “it’s something better than what we have now.”

His El Salvador TPS Act of 2026 would direct DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to “designate El Salvador for temporary protected status until the date that is 18 months after September 9, 2026.”

Gray figures the possibility of a Democratic Party win in the midterms could result in a Congress more willing to compromise on immigration reform.

“When any one party controls everything, it’s hard to get anyone to compromise,” said Gray, whip for the centrist Blue Dog Coalition. “I think we need some friction to govern. If we can get some friction, perhaps we can create the right dynamic for compromise, because that’s what it’s going to take.”

Gray believes immigration reform would solve TPS and DACA. 

“Any pathway to citizenship for anyone who isn’t here legally is unacceptable, right?” said Gray. “Then, on the other side of the political spectrum, you have people on the left who say anything less than a pathway to citizenship for everybody is unacceptable, right?”

Gray, an educator whose grandparents were farmers, said those two positions “can’t reconcile” with the current Congress. Republicans hold a 220-213 advantage in the House with two vacant seats.

“The attitude that’s got to change in Washington is this line in the sand on both sides,” said Gray. “Immigration is a problem that is being thrown around a lot of times. I just don’t understand why it hasn’t been fixed. It’s fixable.”

He added, “At the end of the day, whatever happens (in Washington, D.C.), people here keep suffering.” 

Meanwhile, Mendota has seen the impact of the federal government’s delay in determining TPS for Salvadorans. While the Trump administration has ended TPS for various countries, it was mum on what would happen on the Sept. 9 expiration date for Salvadorans with TPS. Employers received letters reminding them of the expiration date that would keep workers with TPS from legal employment.

“We see people doing better here because they’ve been able to get better jobs, like in the trucking industry,” Martínez told Gray. However, some of the trucking company owners are also under TPS and fear the risk of losing that status, he noted.

Mendota, which sits in the heart of the Central Valley, is known for its agricultural output and relies heavily on refrigerated trucking for distribution.

“You’re not just removing a man, you’re removing all those jobs that are currently (paying) 1,200 bucks a week or 1,300 or 1,400,” said Martínez. “Now, you’ve got to go back and search for jobs in the fields making $500 or $600. Think about what that means for all the kids, all the families. It’s just a huge impact on our society.”

For the time being, Martínez accepts the TPS extension but hopes it can be drawn out to five or 10 years. 

“Even if that doesn’t mean that you’re going to become a citizen, that family will be happy. It will be better than how it is right now.”

This story was produced as part of “Aquí Estamos/Here We Stand,” a collaborative reporting project of American Community Media and community news outlets statewide.

JUAN ESPARZA LOERA

Juan Esparza Loera has covered California’s Central Valley for more than 50 years, as an editor and journalist with the Spanish language newspaper Vida en el Valle and as the former opinion editor for the Fresno Bee.