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Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs


Press Release


Mayor Bill de Blasio Urges The Department Of Homeland Security To Extend TPS For Nepal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2018
CONTACT: mediabox@moia.nyc.gov, (212) 676-3013

NEW YORK—In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Acting Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, Mayor Bill de Blasio urges DHS to extend Nepal’s TPS designation for a full eighteen months. DHS initially designated Nepal for TPS in 2015, after the nation suffered two catastrophic earthquakes. Mayor de Blasio, who leads the city with the country’s largest Nepalese community, emphasizes that Nepal’s recovery remains incomplete and that Nepal continues to have inadequate housing, infrastructure, health care, and schools. The deadline for DHS to make its decision is late April.

“I stand with Nepalese New Yorkers—the largest Nepalese community in the country—and call on the Department of Homeland Security to extend Nepal’s TPS designation for a full eighteen months,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Forcing TPS recipients to return to a country still recovering from two calamitous earthquakes would be heartless and cruel.”

A copy of the letter is available here.