New York, January 9 (RHC-Agencies) The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), gave Salvadoran holders of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) until September 9, 2019, to leave or find a legal way to stay in the country.

This means that the US will terminate the program for an estimated 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants.

The TPS was begun after two earthquakes killed nearly 8,000 people in El Salvador in 2001.

But DHS considers that things have changed.

"Based on careful consideration of available information, including recommendations received as part of an inter-agency consultation process, the Secretary determined that the original conditions caused by the 2001 earthquakes no longer exist," the Department said in a statement.

The largest number of Salvadoran TPS recipients — about 32,000 people — live in the Washington area, studies show, followed by Los Angeles, New York and Houston.

In its statement, the DHS also said it had determined that El Salvador could successfully reintegrate its nationals.

However, TPS holders said the Central American country was not ready to receive the thousands of families that would be forced to return.

El Salvador, home to about six million, is often described as one of the world's deadliest countries. In 2016, it averaged 14.4 murders a day.