MIAMI – President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Monday that the Temporary Protected Status for Nicaraguans was ending in 60 days.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem’s spokesperson released a statement saying the TPS over devastating Hurricane Mitch was never meant to last a quarter of a century, and added that since “conditions have improved” they “can return home in safety.”
For years, human rights experts’ reports on the safety of Nicaragua, a close ally of Cuba and Venezuela aligned with Russia, China, and Iran, have concluded differently.
Earlier this year, the United Nations reported that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a former guerrilla leader; his wife, Rosario Murillo, the vice president; and the ruling Sandinista party were engaging in “severe human rights violations.”
Last year, Human Rights Watch warned that Ortega and Murillo were repressing dissent, “cracking down” on the Catholic Church, closing media outlets and non-governmental organizations, and condoning “widespread impunity for human rights violations.”
In 2023, the U.S. State Department reported that the human rights violations under Ortega and Murillo in Nicaragua included arbitrary or unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and life-threatening prison conditions.