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Tue May 21, 2:39 PM ET Néfer Muñoz,Inter Press Service TEGUCIGALPA, May 21 (IPS) - Although the United States granted a new one-year extension of the temporary legal immigration status of 105,000 Hondurans, the wave of migrants from this impoverished Central American country since Hurricane Mitch hit in 1998 has not let up, and experts worried about future mass deportations warn of a ''time bomb.''
Early this month, the government of George W. Bush renewed TPS, a U.S. program created to help those who left Honduras and Nicaragua, fleeing the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane Mitch three and a half years ago. Zamora, a lawyer, said more than 100 Hondurans a day are heading for the United States by land, in search of jobs and a better future. ''The big problem is that our country does not offer opportunities,'' said Zamora. ''People don't leave Honduras because they want to, but as an act of mere survival.'' More than 600,000 Hondurans currently reside in the United States, according to unofficial statistics that do not distinguish undocumented immigrants from legal immigrants. An estimated total of 800,000 Hondurans live abroad. Although TPS has been renewed for Honduran immigrants three years in a row, the program is set to expire on Jul 5, 2003. ''If mass deportations occur at that time, it will trigger social chaos'' in Honduras, where no plans are in place to deal with a flood of returning emigrants, said Zamora. The impact of the termination of TPS will not only be social, but economic as well, because it will lead to a plunge in family remittances, one of the engines of the economy of this country of 6.3 million. Hondurans living in the United States send their families back home over 500 million dollars a year, making immigrant remittances the country's main source of foreign exchange. An estimated two out of five Hondurans receive money orders and cash sent home by family members abroad. Most of the Hondurans who decide to try their luck in the United States are under 30, and come from urban or semi-urban areas, according to FONAMIH statistics. ''In Honduras, like in the rest of Central America, we have a big migration problem,'' Labor Minister Germán Leitzelar told IPS. Leitzelar underlined the need for effective employment-generating policies, to curb the outflow of emigrants. ''A definitive solution for TPS must be sought. We cannot continue living year to year under the uncertainty that the program will be eliminated,'' said Leitzelar. The minister added that a response is needed from the U.S. market, which absorbs the immigrants, as well as from the Honduran political system, which must come up with ways to improve living standards here. Analysts say the main cause of emigration is poverty, which affects nearly 65 percent of the population, according to official figures, although unofficial sources put the proportion at 80 percent. ''The lack of opportunities drives many Hondurans to embrace the dream of emigrating, and as a consequence they put themselves at risk of serious violations of their human rights,'' Irvin Jerez, coordinator of emigrant affairs at the Association of Non-Governmental Entities of Honduras (ASONOG), told IPS. The U.S. Embassy here said the Hondurans who have qualified for the TPS program have a chance of obtaining permanent residency status, although that will depend on what the Honduran government does to curtail the exodus from this country. Since Hurricane Mitch tore through Honduras in 1998, leaving 6,000 dead and 8,000 missing, and severely damaging the economy and infrastructure, an average of 35,000 people a year have headed to the United States, according to ASONOG statistics. ''Some of them have been deported from the United States five or six times. But even then, they just try again,'' said Jerez.
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