WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday renewed deportation relief that currently covers 900,000 immigrants from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan, a move that would delay any attempts by President-elect Donald Trump to sunset those protections.
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended enrollment in the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for those countries, providing immigrants with an 18-month reprieve from deportation and access to work permits.
Biden, a Democrat, has significantly increased the number of immigrants eligible for TPS since taking office in 2021.
The status, which is granted to people whose home country has been affected by a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other extraordinary event, now includes over 1 million people from 17 countries.
Trump, a Republican returning to the White House on Jan. 20, attempted to end most TPS enrollment during his 2017-2021 term but was thwarted by US courts.
Trump won another term in office promising a massive immigration crackdown and is expected to try to end most TPS protections.
Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Biden administration’s actions on Friday fell short of activists’ and some Democrats’ more broad demands to grant TPS to newly arrived immigrants and those from other countries.
Todd Schulte, president of the advocacy group FWD.us, said the extensions would allow hundreds of thousands of people to continue “contributing to their communities, supporting their families, and strengthening the economy,” but he also urged Biden to extend TPS to Nicaragua and other countries.
The program’s largest population, approximately 600,000 Venezuelans, is eligible for TPS.
The Biden administration, which first granted Venezuelans the status in 2021, cited high levels of crime in Venezuela caused by political and economic instability under President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in for a third term on Friday.
