Honduras has asked Washington to prolong temporary migration protections for thousands of its citizens in the United States to help mitigate the impact of hurricanes Eta and Iota, Foreign Minister Lisandro Rosales said on Friday.
Some 44,000 Hondurans have access in the United States to Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which was granted after the devastation wrought in the impoverished Central American country by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
Over 1 million Hondurans live legally and illegally in the United States, and the more than $5 billion they send home annually is a major source of support for the economy.
"This is a new TPS we have requested, and they will analyze our request, and above all, having the hope that the United States has been showing solidarity with Honduras," Rosales was quoted as saying in a government statement.
Rosales presented the request to U.S. Acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf in Washington, where he has been with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez since Thursday on a visit to try to secure aid to alleviate the destruction caused by hurricanes Eta and Iota last month.
Eta and Iota caused serious damage to infrastructure, buildings and crops in Honduras, and killed about 100 people, according to the country's disaster management agency, COPECO.
(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Editing by Alistair Bell)
