The Biden administration said Tuesday it would extend through 2025 the temporary legal status of more than 300,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua who had faced the risk of deportation and loss of work permits under the Trump administration's policies.
Under the Temporary Protected Status program, the Biden administration will permit migrants from these four countries to continue their lawful residence and employment in the United States.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that through the extension of Temporary Protected Status, "we are able to offer continued safety and protection to current beneficiaries who are nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua who are already present in the United States and cannot return because of the impacts of environmental disasters."
The TPS program does not lead to permanent U.S. residency, but it does provide legal status in the U.S. and protection from deportation for up to 18 months. It also provides work permits for people to work legally in the country. And it can be extended.
Congress established TPS in 1990 when it said migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe could live and work in the U.S. for a period of time if they met the requirements established by the U.S. government.
Currently, 16 countries have TPS designations: Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.
The Trump administration sought to terminate most TPS programs, arguing that previous administrations had misused them. However, these attempts were halted in federal court.
Because of Tuesday's announcement by the Biden administration, a lawsuit filed in federal court by advocates challenging the Trump administration's attempts to terminate TPS will likely be deemed moot. A hearing was scheduled for late June.
According to the DHS statement, soon-to-be-published notices in the Federal Register are expected to have more information on eligibility criteria and what is necessary for current beneficiaries to re-register for TPS and renew their work permits.
Once the notices are published, existing TPS beneficiaries from the four countries "will be able to re-register to continue their TPS throughout the 18-month extension," DHS said.
Immigration advocates called the move "a hard-fought victory for TPS holders" but urged Congress to provide permanent relief for TPS holders who have been living and working in the U.S. for years without a long-term solution.
Despite pressure from Democratic lawmakers and migrant advocates, the administration has chosen not to pursue the expansion or redesignation of the TPS programs for these countries, which means the program will not be opened to new applicants, thereby excluding more recent arrivals from eligibility for TPS.
About 239,000 Salvadorans residing in the United States since 2001, about 76,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans who have been in the U.S. since 1998 and about 14,500 Nepalese who have been in the country since 2015 will be eligible for TPS renewal.
