US lawmakers urge Biden to grant Temporary Protected Status to Pakistani nationals

An increasing number of US politicians are appealing to the Biden administration to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Pakistani nationals currently residing in the US due to this year’s severe floods.

In September, two Democratic senators, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Diane Feinstein of California, wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden, asking him to give the TPS status. The TPS would potentially allow Pakistani nationals to remain in the United States.

Since then, additional MPs have endorsed the initiative. The following senators have signed the letter: Patty Murray, Dick Durbin, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Mark Warner, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, Bob Casey, and Tina Smith.

The senators claimed in a statement attached to the letter that this year’s storms and floods had affected about 33 million people and submerged one-third of Pakistan. They also emphasized how the ongoing crisis has rendered many areas dangerous and untenable, in addition to causing an estimated $10 billion in damages.

They also noted that the spread of waterborne diseases like typhoid, malaria, acute respiratory infections, skin and eye infections, and diarrhoea posed a serious concern.

Senators stated that compelling Pakistanis to return to a country that is dealing with what UN Secretary-General António Guterres has described as a relentless onslaught of “epochal” levels of rain and flooding would severely impede relief efforts.

They said that it ran the risk of causing more displacement, destabilizing the region, and jeopardizing crucial US national security objectives.