The Trump administration is extending a program that allows illegal immigrants from six specific countries to obtain legal protection from deportation due to their home country’s inability to take back its own citizens.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, says it is continuing the program due to unresolved litigation over related cases that prevents it from immediately changing it.
The agency announced Friday it will continue granting protections under the Temporary Protected Status program for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan through Jan. 4, 2021. USCIS will publish a 27-page notice in the Federal Register detailing the plan on Monday. The move could affect an estimated 300,000 in the U.S., according to a Congressional Research Service March estimate.
The move comes weeks after a federal judge ordered a temporary stop to the winding down of the six programs.
Under TPS, those from certain countries who were in the U.S. illegally at the time of a natural disaster, war, famine, or similar situation, can apply for permission to legally remain at work in the country for two-year terms until their home country says it is stable for people to return.
Many of these countries had had their programs renewed many times, some for up to 15 years. Some recipients have been in the United States for 20 years under the program.
“Without TPS, these people would return to the shadows or face deportation to countries still in great turmoil,” David Bier, immigration policy analyst at Cato Institute, wrote in an email. “Against all odds, this last extension will bring them mere days from surviving Trump’s first term in office, and that is a fundamentally good thing for his country. TPS recipients across the country are working at very high rates, starting businesses, and contributing to America’s success.”
After taking office in 2017, Trump said people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal ought to return home, citing an improvement in conditions. However, many of the programs have continued, including in this latest renewal by the Trump administration. Immigrant advocacy groups have sued the administration several times on the grounds that people have lived in the U.S. long-term and consider it home and should not be forced out.
In one case, DHS announced in April it was terminating TPS for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. A number of lawsuits followed, including from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as several class-action suits on behalf of TPS recipients.
Former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also extended protections for recipients from Syria, South Sudan, and Yemen. Citizens from 10 countries are TPS recipients as of Friday.
