The decision by the Department of Homeland Security not to renew Temporary Protected Status, for almost 200,000 migrants from El Salvador is President Trump’s latest attempt to restrict both legal and illegal immigration. This comes on the heels of the same rulings last year regarding Haitians and Nicaraguans. Salvadorans, however, are by far the largest group of T.P.S. recipients — approximately two-thirds of the remaining beneficiaries.

Just like the decision to end the DACA program for nearly 800,000 undocumented childhood arrivals, the T.P.S. announcement is politically motivated and is probably an attempt to satisfy President Trump’s anti-immigrant base. Although the choice to end a supposedly temporary program that has nonetheless lasted for 17 years may sound rational, the real-world consequences of such a wide-reaching move will be immediate and severe — and may even contribute to a new cycle of illegal immigration.

Many, if not most, are unlikely to voluntarily return to a country that they no longer call home and instead may seek to stay illegally. The widespread fear instilled by this ruling, and the possible deportations to come, will tear apart families and communities. In effect, as of September 2019 there will be a group of newly unauthorized migrants living in the United States equivalent to the population of Salt Lake City. After almost two decades in the United States, Salvadoran T.P.S. recipients have built lives, communities and businesses. In many cities — above all Washington and Los Angeles — they are an important part of the economic and social fabric. They are parents to approximately 192,700 United States-born citizens.

Ironically, if T.P.S. recipients are deported, a primary beneficiary will be one of President Trump’s most-stated enemies: the MS-13 gang, which he has accused of turning United States communities “into bloodstained killing fields.” The criminal organization, which is active in both the United States and El Salvador, traces its roots to instability after a wave of deportations from the United States in the 1990s, which El Salvador was ill equipped to receive. It didn’t take long for the resulting instability to bounce back to the United States in the form of increased criminal activity and illegal immigration.