Miami Just one week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday that over 600,000 Venezuelans and over 230,000 Salvadorans who are already in the US can lawfully stay for an additional 18 months. Trump has pledged to implement strict immigration laws.
Temporary Protected Status has received a lot of support from Biden’s administration, and he has widely extended it to include roughly 1 million people. Trump attempted to drastically reduce the use of TPS during his first term as president, therefore its future is questionable. Although it has never been done before, federal regulations would permit the extensions to end early.
Additionally, Homeland Security extended TPS for 1,900 Sudanese and over 103,000 Ukrainians who now reside in the United States.
The extension means that Jos Palma, a 48-year-old Salvadoran who has been in the United States since 1998, can continue to work lawfully in Houston for the time being. Since his wife is a permanent resident and his four children were born U.S. citizens, he is the only member of his family having temporary status. He might be deported and split up from the rest of the family if TPS was not extended.
Palma remarked, “It’s a breath of fresh air and gives me peace of mind.” It gives me security.
Palma provides his 73-year-old mother, who is retired and unemployed, with approximately $400 per month through his job as an organizer for a day laborer organization.
Although the TPS designation grants individuals legal permission to enter the nation, it does not offer them a permanent route to citizenship. When their status expires, they depend on the government extending it. According to conservative detractors, the protected status automatically renews over time, independent of the circumstances in the individual’s native country.
The department stated that the announcement, made Friday as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took office for a third six-year term in Caracas amid intense international censure, was founded on the dire humanitarian situation the nation is still experiencing as a result of the political and economic crises caused by the Maduro regime.
Homeland Security pointed to El Salvador’s weather, particularly the country’s intense rains and storms over the past two years, as a reason why people are unable to return.
In order to prevent deportations to nations experiencing natural catastrophes or civil unrest, Congress established TPS in 1990, allowing individuals to work in increments of up to 18 months at a time.
TPS protects over 1 million immigrants from 17 nations, including those from Afghanistan, Sudan, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Lebanon. The extension, which will last from April 2025 to October 2, 2026, will mostly benefit Venezuelans.
After earthquakes shook the Central American nation in 2001, Salvadorans were awarded TPS. TPS for Salvadorans was extended until September 9, 2026, after it was set to expire in March.
As they pursue mass deportations, Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, indicated they will reduce the use of temporary protection orders (TPS) and programs that offer temporary status. Trump terminated TPS for El Salvador during his first term, but it was overturned in court.
Advocates have put more pressure on the Biden administration in recent months to safeguard individuals from additional nations, such as Guatemala and Ecuador, and to request extensions of TPS for those who now have it.
Felipe Arnoldo D. Az, a National TPS Alliance activist, described this extension as a minor win. Our main worry is that, in addition to El Salvador, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Honduras are among the nations whose TPS is about to expire and are being excluded.
A 40-year-old Venezuelan named Victor Macedo came to the United States in 2021 after being threatened with death in his native country for being an opposition political activist. Since his TPS was scheduled to expire in April, he was shocked to learn of the extension.
It is a huge comfort. “I was terrified,” Macedo, a home remodeler in Davie, Florida, said. I can work, drive, and have legal status thanks to TPS.