Trump Admin to End Protected Status for More Than 6,000 Syrian Nationals

Federal officials said conditions no longer prevent Syrians from safely returning to their home country.

People, many of them expatriate Syrians, gather in Berlin to celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria on Dec. 8, 2024. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The Trump administration is ending a designation for Syria that has allowed thousands of its citizens to live and work in the United States.

On Sept. 19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will not renew Syria’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program that shields eligible foreign nationals from deportation and provides work authorization when a safe return to their home country is deemed impossible because of conditions such as war or natural disaster.

The status was first granted for Syria in 2012, in response to the civil war that erupted the previous year, and was extended multiple times during President Donald Trump’s first term and the Biden administration.

The Biden administration most recently extended Syria’s designation for 18 months, from April 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025, citing the country’s then-raging civil war. At that time, DHS estimated that roughly 6,200 Syrians were benefiting from TPS.

In the Sept. 19 notice, DHS stated that it will let the designation expire, noting that while violence persists in parts of Syria, the country no longer meets the statutory criteria of an “ongoing armed conflict” that poses a serious threat to those who return.

The department highlighted a series of political changes in Syria since December 2024, when rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Since then, an interim government has established a caretaker Cabinet, ratified a constitutional declaration granting a five-year transitional period, and held a national conference to solicit public input on the country’s future.

These steps, the DHS stated, demonstrate “an effort to move the country to a stable institutional governance, not a perpetuation of armed conflict.”

“Syria’s long-time dictator was deposed, a transitional political structure has been installed, large-scale military campaigns have ceased, and displaced populations are returning,” the DHS notice states.

“While scattered episodes of violence persist, the structural transformation in Syria aligns far more closely with the post-conflict transitional phase of a nation rather than ongoing armed conflict.”

The department also pointed to terrorist activity in Syria as an additional reason for ending the TPS designation. With no functioning U.S. diplomatic mission in Damascus, officials said it is impossible for the federal government to adequately verify each Syrian national’s identity, criminal history, or potential terrorist ties, posing an “ongoing threat” to public safety and national security.

Once TPS formally ends, beneficiaries will have a 60-day grace period, until Nov. 21, 2025. After that, Syrians without another legal pathway to remain in the United States will be subjected to arrest and deportation.

The administration advised Syrian TPS holders to use the Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One smartphone app to report their departure. DHS promoted the app as a “safe and secure” way to self-deport, offering a free plane ticket, a $1,000 bonus, and the possibility of future legal immigration.

DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said Temporary Protected Status, as its name suggests, is meant to be temporary.

“This is what restoring sanity to America’s immigration system looks like,” she said in a Sept. 19 statement.