Bronx Congressional Reps. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), along with nine other original cosponsors, introduced the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act (H.R. 7371) to the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, Feb. 26. The bill, if passed, 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, whose latest redrawn congressional district 13 covers much of northern Manhattan, including Inwood and Washington Heights, as well as the western Bronx neighborhoods of Marble Hill, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Jerome Park, Bedford Park, University Heights, and parts of Fordham and Morris Heights.

 

“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,” he added.

 

He continued, “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.”

 

For her part, Ocasio-Cortez, who represents much of the East Bronx, including Rikers Island, as well as northwest Queens, said, “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.’”

 

The congresswoman added, “It’s also an important acknowledgment of the role U.S. foreign policy has played in the regional chaos these families are fleeing. [The documentary Harvest of Empire discusses the latter.] 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.”

 

The two Bronx elected leaders have also worked together in the past on different immigration-related issues, as reported. Representatives for both said that 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, they said Ecuador’s homicide rate 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 what they described as “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, Fernando Villavicencio, they said 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.

 

They said that 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, they said Ecuador’s foreign minister asked the U.S. to grant TPS for Ecuadorian citizens.

 

Alongside Espaillat and Ocasio-Cortez, the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act is cosponsored by Reps. Chuy García from Illinois, Eleanor Holmes Norton, representing the District of Columbia, Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, former national co-chair of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, Grace Meng (NY-6), Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Barbara Lee of California, and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. Read the bill in its entirety here.

 

According to Wikipedia, the District of Columbia’s at-large congressional district is a congressional district encompassing all of Washington, D.C. Article One of the U.S. Constitution instructs that only “States” may be represented in Congress. Because the District of Columbia does not meet that criterion, the member elected from the at-large district is not permitted to participate in votes on the floor of the House of Representatives.

 

Instead, constituents of the seat elect a non-voting delegate to the chamber. Though the delegate lacks full voting privileges, they are permitted to sit on, cast votes in, and chair congressional committees and subcommittees. The delegate may also join party caucuses, introduce legislation, and hire staff to assist with constituent services.

 

The modern office of delegate from the District of Columbia was established in 1971 and since then, it has been represented by just two individuals. Holmes Norton, an advocate for D.C. statehood, who assumed office in 1991 is the current delegate. She has held the seat for more than 60 percent of its existence.

 

Meanwhile, a Mexican immigrant shared his thoughts on U.S. immigration policy and the political situation and unrest in Venezuela during Mexican Independence Day last October.

 

More recently, we reported how New York Attorney General Letitia James sued a fraudulent Bronx immigration lawyer who had been scamming a large number of immigrants on the pretense of helping them with their visa paperwork.

 

Practice your English while getting to know your community, regardless of immigration status, with free English classes offered by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. Written translations and in-person or telephonic interpretation for any person requiring assistance is also available. Call (212) 669-7817 or email access@lpc.nyc.gov for more information. Complaints can also be submitted to access@lpc.nyc.gov or by calling 311 for those who may not have received information or assistance in a way that is understandable to them. Click here for more information.