DistantNews
Support us
🇦🇷 Argentina /Culture & Society

He rebuilt the Pentagon after 9/11. Now he may lose his TPS: “There is a lot of uncertainty”

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • The United States is set to suspend Temporary Protected Status for 170,000 Salvadorans on Sept. 9, including businessman Nilson Cañenguez.
  • Cañenguez worked on rebuilding the Pentagon and later built transportation and construction companies employing more than 250 people.
  • He says he may leave his U.S. businesses to his children and return to El Salvador, while TPS beneficiaries contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy each year.

For Nilson Cañenguez, the Temporary Protected Status that helped him build a life in the United States was always supposed to be temporary. But the protection lasted 25 years, long enough for him to rebuild the Pentagon after the September 11 attacks, establish companies and bring his family to the country.

Cañenguez crossed into the United States in 1999 and entered the construction industry. After receiving TPS in 2001, he worked on the construction of the visitor center at Congress and on the reconstruction of the Pentagon, according to CNN. He later bought trucks, founded a transportation company and created a commercial construction company where he now oversees more than 250 employees.

Through my companies I helped several people obtain residency, but I could not obtain it for myself.

· Nilson CañenguezHe described the irony of helping employees obtain residency while remaining unable to secure it for himself.

His businesses helped other people obtain residency, but not him. “Through my companies I helped several people obtain residency, but I could not obtain it for myself,” he told a U.S. media outlet, describing the situation with irony. Over the years, his wife and three children moved to the United States, and he bought a family home as his financial position grew.

Cañenguez remains active in lobbying Congress and supports immigration reform or another legal pathway for TPS beneficiaries. “I was always thinking it was temporary, but that is how decades passed,” he said.

I was always thinking it was temporary, but that is how decades passed.

· Nilson CañenguezHe reflected on the 25 years he spent under Temporary Protected Status.

With TPS for Salvadorans set to end on Sept. 9, he says his family faces uncertainty. “There is uncertainty as a family,” he said. Because he planned ahead, he expects to leave his U.S. businesses in the hands of his children and return to El Salvador to manage his other companies there.

A FWD.us study said Salvadoran TPS holders contribute $5.4 billion annually to the U.S. economy and pay $1.5 billion in federal, state and local taxes. The article also says 152,000 Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries are part of the U.S. workforce, including 36,000 working in construction.

There is uncertainty as a family.

· Nilson CañenguezHe described his family's concerns as TPS protection approached its end.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog