As Donald Trump's inauguration looms closer, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently extended the Temporary Protected Status of about 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 230,000 Salvadorans currently living in the United States for another 18 months.
The Friday announcement comes less than 2 weeks before Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. In sentiments echoed from his first administration, Trump believes the program has been abused, allowing people to stay in the U.S. long after crisis conditions have ended in their home countries. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have promised mass deportations and suggested scaling back TPS and allowing designations to expire.
The recent extension of the program—which also included more than 103,000 Ukrainian nationals and 1,900 Sudanese migrants—allows people to remain in the U.S. legally and gives them a legal right to work, although TPS designation does not provide them with a long-term path to citizenship.
The Biden administration has continuously supported the Temporary Protected Status program for Venezuelan migrants due to the severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crises under dictator Nicolás Maduro, according to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
DHS cited "environmental conditions in El Salvador that prevents individuals from returning" as a reason to extend TPS status for Salvadorians as heavy rains and storms in the last two years have seriously impacted the Central American country.
The extension of TPS for Venezuelan migrants will run from April 3, 2025, to October 2, 2026 while the extension for Salvadorians was extended until Sept. 9, 2026 and was due to expire in March of this year.
What Is Temporary Protection Status?
In 1990, Congress created the program to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters and civil strife, granting legal pathways for people to work in the U.S. in increments of up to 18 months at a time.
As the Associated Press reports, about 1 million immigrants from 17 different countries are currently protected by TPS, with Venezuelans being one of the largest groups under the program's protection.
For migrant advocates such as Felipe Arnoldo Díaz, the extension is "just a small victory." The activist with the National TPS Alliance points out that protection for other countries such as Nepal, Nicaragua and Honduras is set to expire soon.
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