Sen. Chuck Schumer wants immigrants from Nepal to stay in U.S. during earthquake recovery
by Erin Durkin

Sen. Chuck Schumer said people from Nepal living in the U.S. should be able to stay while their country recovers from a massive earthquake.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the Department of Homeland Security to offer Temporary Protected Status to Nepalese nationals who are already in the country.

It would allow them to stay beyond their visas, and to get permission to work.

“Many of them are suffering because their relatives have been lost or died. Many more are suffering because their homes and villages and towns and neighborhoods have been utterly destroyed,” Schumer said. “To send them back to Nepal right now would be wrong.”

The special status would also allow Nepalese nationals to travel to their homeland to aid stricken relatives and return to the U.S.

The same protection was offered to Haitians after the earthquake there in 2010.

About 40,000 Nepalese live in the city, mostly in Queens, and many had family members affected by the devastating quake, which killed more than 7,000 people and destroyed 70,000 homes.

Pema Sherpa of Queens said she’s desperate to see her son, who is now living in a tent after the family home was destroyed.

“I’ve been suffering, dying every day and hoping to see my son,” she said. Read more from the New York Daily News.