For nearly 30 years, my parents have called the United States home. Now they are being forced to leave.

I was born 3 years after the Salvadoran civil war ended. I was five years old when my family came to the United States from El Salvador. Because the country was still recovering from a brutal civil war, and two earthquakes that hit back to back, it was not safe for many Salvadorans to return. My parents, like thousands of others, were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which allowed them to legally live, work, and pay taxes in the United States while it was unsafe to return home. The problem is, our country was unsafe for decades, and TPS was renewed year after year. TPS gave my parents the opportunity to build our lives here and contribute.

My parents were dentists in El Salvador, and in the U.S. they rebuilt their careers working in the healthcare field. They bought a home, paid taxes, worked hard, and contributed to their community. They raised three children here. My brother and I grew up in the United States, went to school, graduated from college, and built our lives here. My youngest sister is a U.S. citizen and has never known another home. She lives with them and my parents are helping support her through college. She has lived with this insecurity and fear since she was 11, when TPS was first canceled briefly in 2018.

For nearly three decades, my parents followed every requirement of their status. Every 18 months, they registered with the government, were fingerprinted and vetted, and paid the required fees to maintain their ability to live and work here legally. But TPS was always temporary. It does not provide a pathway to a green card nor citizenship. So even after nearly 30 years of living, working, paying taxes, owning a home, and raising a family here, my parents still cannot apply to stay permanently despite the life they have built. We have gotten many second opinions, spent so much money on law consultations and tried every avenue. They would need another qualifying pathway under immigration law, and one does not exist.

Now, nearly 30 years after my parents arrived in the United States, their TPS is set to expire on September 9, 2026. The decision on whether there would be an extension for El Salvador was supposed to be made July 11th, but there has been no announcement. On September 9th they will lose the ability to legally work and live here. The hope and prayer is for an extension period for TPS so they have a little longer to get their affairs in order, but that is not promised.

With no permanent pathway available to them, my parents have made the heartbreaking decision to leave before that date to avoid facing possible detention. This gives them just over a month to prepare.

They are leaving behind the home they worked decades to build, careers they spent years establishing, their faith community, and their children and grandchildren. They are leaving behind the retirement future they spent decades contributing toward. They are leaving behind a house with a mortgage they have paid on for 20 years. They are starting over in their 60s. They have to leave just days before their second grandchild is due. We are heartbroken.

We are creating this fundraiser to help my parents begin again in El Salvador. The funds will help with the costs of relocating including: transportation, shipping or replacing essential belongings, securing housing, legal and travel expenses, and the many unexpected costs that come with starting over in a country they have not lived in for nearly 30 years.

Asking for help is incredibly difficult. My parents have spent their lives working, sacrificing for their family, and contributing to the community they called home. They truly love this country.

They should not have to start over. To leave their family. But if they have to, we want to make sure they do not have to do it alone.

If you are able to give, we cannot thank you enough. If you cannot, sharing this with others means just as much to us. Thank you for loving our family, standing with us, and helping our family through this next chapter.