Over the past 6 months we've read several stories about people within the administration who pushed to extend Temporary Protected Status for about 300,000 immigrants who have lived and worked her lawfully for years, most nearly 2 decades. /1
In November, Breitbart reported that Jim Nealon--who worked with John Kelly at US Southern Command, served as the US Ambassador to Honduras, and was later appointed by Kelly to a DHS position--explained how ending TPS wouldn't be in the best interests of Honduras or the US. /2
It was surprising that Breitbart ran the piece, because while they intended for it to be a hit piece it really just highlighted that a person with incredible substantive expertise in the region knew what a spectacularly bad idea it would be to end TPS. /3 breitbart.com/big-government…
A few days later, after the Acting DHS Secretary decided to trigger an automatic 6-month extension of TPS for Honduras, the press reported that Kelly was furious and he called her from Japan to berate her for not falling in line. /4 washingtonpost.com/world/national…
All of this unfolded shortly before Kelly's protege, Kirstjen Nielsen, went before the Senate for confirmation to the top position at DHS. This left serious questions about her independence and judgment. /5
Yesterday we learned that top U.S. diplomats sent embassy cables to then-Secretary of State Tillerson urging the administration to extend TPS, but those cables, too, were ignored. /6 washingtonpost.com/world/national…
An oil executive ignoring the advice of top diplomats led to resignations and worsened the sinking morale in the State Department. One senior official called Tillerson's handling of the TPS decision was "heartbreaking." /7
Although Ambassador Nealon declined to be interviewed for the Washington Post story, tonight he and Jon Feeley, former U.S. Ambassador to Panama, published a powerful op-ed asking this important question: how does any of this make sense? wapo.st/2I4MU3y /8 
The former ambassadors explain that ending TPS for Honduras will send people back to the same violence, poverty and poor governance that is already driving people to flee that country today. /9
And because the country is ill-equipped to handle the return of tens of thousands of TPS holders and their families--or to deal with a decrease in private dollars sent each year in the form of remittances by Honduran TPS holders in the US--ending TPS will make things worse. /10
In recent years, strong bipartisan support in Congress has emerged to invest in efforts that will increase citizen security in Honduras and the other Northern Triangle countries. Ending TPS is short-sighted and counter-productive. /11
Shortly after he retired as a U.S. diplomat, Ambassador Feeley penned this remarkable op-ed exploring how the actions of this administration fall short of the values that make America "truly great." /12 washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-i…
In the op-ed that Feeley and Nealon published jointly tonight they continue to explore that issue. /13
In 30 years we will look back at the actions of this administration and will--more or less--collectively recognize them as in line with other ugly parts of our history that we sometimes let ourselves believe we've put behind us. /14
The value of recognizing we're living through history now is that we each have an opportunity to determine how we want to be remembered when all is said and done. /15
