Posted on January 13, 2025

Biden Extends Temporary Status of Nearly 1M Migrants Ahead of Trump Deportations

Myah Ward, Politico, January 10, 2025

The Biden administration announced Friday it would extend temporary deportation relief to nearly 1 million people from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela, just days before Donald Trump enters the White House with a vow to restrict the program.

The move allows people from these countries who currently have Temporary Protected Status to renew work permits and deportation protections — extending the program for El Salvador until March 2026 and Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela until October 2026. The TPS designation, created by Congress in 1990, has been used by presidents from Republican and Democratic administrations to offer legal reprieve to people from countries struck by natural disaster, armed conflict or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

The Trump administration is expected to scale back the policy as the incoming president looks to enact tougher immigration rules and forge ahead with mass deportations. While TPS designations can be revoked by the DHS secretary — as long as the government provides a 60-day notice — President Joe Biden’s move to extend protections could delay Trump’s attempts to end them. During his first term, Trump tried to end TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, only to be stymied by court challenges.

For weeks, Biden administration officials have been privately weighing whether to take a swath of final actions to protect immigrants before Trump’s return to Washington. Since his November victory, Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates have been pressuring the White House, holding press conferences and sending letters to the administration.

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Biden’s moves on Friday still fell short of the demands from advocates and some Democratic allies. The president did not increase the number of immigrants eligible for TPS, ignoring advocates’ pleas for another layer of protection against Trump’s deportation plans. The Biden administration also didn’t expand the pool of Nicaraguans eligible for TPS, nor did it extend existing TPS protections for people from this country that run through July 2025.

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