EL SALVADOR urged the US Congress on yesterday to allow almost 200,000 refugees from the country to stay in the United States.

Salvadorian Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez said he was confident new legislation could be put in place before the refugees lose their “temporary protected status” on September 9 2019.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said earlier that about 190,000 Salvadorians living there since the 2001 earthquake disaster in their country would have to leave by then or face deportation.