Federal Agency Extends Stay for More Than 300,000 Immigrants

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks at a press briefing at the White House on Sept. 24, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend the temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from several countries, according to a statement issued by the agency on June 13.

Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the DHS ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. But on June 13, those designations were brought back, affecting more than 300,000 people from those countries.

“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,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “We will continue to offer support to them through this temporary form of humanitarian relief.”

The agency, which oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will publish the explanation for procedures, timelines, and eligibility criteria in the Federal Register in the near future.

TPS allows people who can’t return to their home countries because of natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary measures to remain in the United States and obtain work permits. Designations typically last six to 18 months but can be renewed indefinitely. Some TPS designations have been in place for decades, but they don’t lead to permanent U.S. status.

The latest decision by the Biden administration will allow TPS renewals for 239,000 Salvadorans who have resided in the United States since 2001. Some 76,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans that have been in the United States since 1998 are eligible, along with 14,500 Nepalese that have been in the country since 2015.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua living in the U.S. illegally won’t be covered by the TPS extension since they arrived after the cutoff dates.

Toward the end of 2021, there were some 241,699 Salvadorans, 76,737 Hondurans, 14,556 Nepalis, and 4,250 Nicaraguans who were enrolled in the agency program, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

The Biden administration has added TPS-related designations to a total of 16 countries. In 2022, the White House added protections for individuals from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Liberia, and Ethiopia, for instance.

“The United States recognizes the ongoing armed conflict and the extraordinary and temporary conditions engulfing Ethiopia, and DHS is committed to providing temporary protection to those in need,” Mayorkas said in a statement announcing the designation for Ethiopia last year.

In December 2022, the agency expanded deportation relief for about 250,000 Haitian immigrants who are already in the United States. That occurred months after the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise, leading to significant gang-related violence and instability.

Tijuana, Mexico, seen through the U.S. border wall near San Diego on May 31, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Those recent mandates continue the Biden administration’s bid to expand TPS since taking office in early 2021, standing in contrast to the Trump administration’s moves to end the rule.

During his first day as president, Biden asked Congress to pass a measure that would allow TPS recipients to apply for green cards immediately to become lawful permanent residents. If those individuals meet certain standards, they could be granted U.S. citizenship.

But Trump’s DHS argued that a number of countries don’t fall under the TPS rule any longer. In 2018, the administration stated that more than 200,000 people from El Salvador have to leave because roads, schools, hospitals, homes, and infrastructure were repaired since earthquakes hit the country in 2001.

“Based on careful consideration of available information,” the Trump DHS said in a statement at the time, “the secretary determined that the original conditions caused by the 2001 earthquakes no longer exist. Thus, under the applicable statute, the current TPS designation must be terminated.”

In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled by a 2–1 margin in favor of the Trump administration to strip the legal immigration status of about 400,000 people. That ruling affected immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

“To be granted TPS, applicants must meet filing deadlines, pay a fee, and prove they have lived in the U.S. continuously since the events that triggered relief from deportation,” a Pew Research article reads. “They must also meet criminal record requirements—for example, that they have not been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors while in the U.S.; persecuted others; or engaged in terrorism.”

The program was authorized in 1990, when then-President George H.W. Bush signed a Congress-passed bill into law.

Last month, the Trump-era Title 42 immigration policy expired. The rule had allowed Border Patrol agents to deny illegal immigrants permission to enter the United States in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A case brought by several Republican attorneys general was dismissed days later by the Supreme Court. Those officials had attempted to keep in place Title 42, but the high court ruled that their challenge was moot.

Reuters contributed to this report.