Representatives Espaillat and Ocasio-Cortez Introduce the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act

NEW YORK, NY – Today, Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), along with nine other original cosponsors, introduced the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act (H.R. 7371), which would grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to over 300,000 Ecuadorians in the U.S. who have fled the current mass outbreak of gang-related violence in Ecuador to seek safety for their families. 

“Ecuadorian families that are here in the U.S. have traveled thousands of miles in order to flee the ongoing, unspeakable violence in their home nation,” said Espaillat. “Unfortunately, our current immigration system is failing them, leaving them without work permits to support their families and making them subject to deportation back to the very danger they have traveled far and wide to flee. As a reprieve for these deserving families, the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act would provide them with temporary protection from deportation and immediate work permits, ensuring that these families have the support of the U.S. at a time when they are unable to return to their home country due to ongoing violence, chaos, and instability.” 

"Granting Temporary Protected Status to Ecuadorians fleeing terrible violence and instability in their home country shouldn't be controversial — it's simply America honoring the promises we've made to the ‘huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ It's also an important acknowledgment of the role U.S. foreign policy has played in the regional chaos these families are fleeing. Importantly, allowing Ecuadorians to live and work legally in the United States will grow our economy and build wealth for all Americans. I'm proud to join Rep. Espaillat in leading this important legislation," said Ocasio-Cortez. 

While Ecuador was once viewed as Latin America’s Model nation for security and political stability, over the past few years, the country has been gripped by an unprecedented wave of violence due to the country’s infiltration by organized drug-trafficking gangs. Between 2017 and 2023, Ecuador’s homicide increased by 800%, and since 2021, the government of Ecuador has declared multiple states of emergency due to wave upon wave of gang-initiated violence that has seen brutal homicides, extortions, horrific prison riots, and attacks on civil society become a norm of daily life in Ecuador.
 
Recently, following the August 2023 assassination of Ecuador’s anti-gang presidential candidate, Ecuador’s gangs went on a mass murder spree in late 2023, highlighted by gang takeovers of prisons, bombs exploding in cities, and a gang’s hijacking of an on-air television news broadcast. In January 2024, the government of Ecuador declared a strict new state of emergency for the nation which enacted citizen curfews and empowered Ecuador’s military to patrol the streets and conduct mass arrests of suspected gang members. Signaling the complete breakdown of civil society in Ecuador, on January 25, 2024, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister asked the U.S. to grant TPS for Ecuadorian citizens.

Alongside Reps. Espaillat and Ocasio-Cortez, the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act is cosponsored by Reps. Chuy García, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jamaal Bowman, Jim McGovern, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Grace Meng, Ilhan Omar, Barbara Lee, and Jan Schakowsky. Read the bill in its entirety here.