Schumer: Allow Nepalese To Stay In US As Nation Recovers
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Sen. Charles Schumer says the United States should allow people from Nepal who are living in the U.S. to overstay their visas without the risk of deportation while their country recovers from its recent earthquake.
Schumer, D-N.Y., is asking the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to grant temporary protected status to Nepalese nationals now residing in the U.S.
PHOTOS: Nepal Earthquake
"So many people killed. Homes and roads and places of business destoryed," Schumer told reporters, including 1010 WINS' Derricke Dennis, on Sunday.
Temporary protected status is used by the federal government to allow a group of foreign nationals to remain in the U.S. beyond the expiration of their visa. The status has been given to residents of Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti following natural disasters in those countries.
Schumer said allowing those Nepalese currently in the U.S. to stay longer following the devastating 7.8-magnitude quake is the compassionate thing to do.
"The Nepalese people are a beautiful people, and for them to suffer like this breaks everybody's heart," Schumer said.
The death toll from last Saturday's quake has climbed to 7,057.
Two men and a woman were pulled from the rubble near Syauli village earlier this week, government administrator Surya Prasad Upadhaya said Sunday. It was not immediately clear which day they were found.
Among those killed was Marisa Eve Girawong, of Edison, New Jersey.
Girawong was a physician's assistant at the Mount Everest base camp. The Rutgers University alum also worked as an emergency room physician assistant at East Orange General Hospital.
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