Biden Extends Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan & Salvadoran Refugees
Biden's administration has extended TPS for nearly a million Salvadorans and Venezuelans
FILE - Venezuelan Victor Macedo holds his daughter Sonia at their home, in in Davie, Fla., Sept. 27, 2023. The family crossed the border U.S. almost two years ago. Since then, they have been living in South Florida with the support of family and friends. They recently qualified for temporary protected status. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)
Immigration remains a controversial issue in the U.S., especially with the upcoming inauguration of President Elect Donald Trump on January 20, 2025. Throughout his presidential campaign, he made it clear that he hopes to remove pro-immigrant policies like DACA and birthright citizenship. In the meantime, the Biden administration has been using its last days to secure better protection for immigrants, including groups within the Latinx community. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that President Biden would extend Temporary Protected Status for about 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 230,000 Salvadorans currently living and working in the U.S. They will be allowed to legally remain in the country for another 18 months. The move also includes 103,000 Ukrainians and 1,900 Sudanese populations throughout the country, the Associated Press reported.
“This extension is just a small victory,” National Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Alliance activist Felipe Arnoldo Díaz the AP. “Our biggest concern is that after El Salvador, there are countries whose TPS are expiring soon and are being left out,” including Nepal, Nicaragua, and Honduras.
Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to work in increments of up to 18 months at a time.
TPS was first created in 1990 by Congress to protect undocumented immigrations from countries experiencing disasters, emergencies, and conflict by authorizing them to work for up to 18 months at a time. Throughout the last four years of his administration, Biden has expanded TPS for about 1 million immigrants from countries including Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon. This means that while people can temporarily stay in the country legally, they are subject to the same complex citizenship process as undocumented people who have no kind of legal protection. They also rely entirely on the political leanings of the current administration for the TPS to be renewed, and the upcoming Trump administration has sparked concerns that TPS may be expired early for some or all groups currently protected by it. In fact, Trump did attempt to limit its use back in 2017 during his first term for El Salvador but was successfully blocked in court.
This time around, Biden chose to expand TPS for Venezuelans specifically due to President Nicolás Maduro taking office for yet another term, his third since 2013. Many political and economic crises have been taking place under his administration, which has been compared to a dictatorial regime, including wide spread torture, corruption, and killings, which has forced millions to flee. Their protection under TPS will run from April 2025 to October 2, 2026.
Meanwhile, Salvadorans have been protected due to the intense environmental disasters in El Salvador, forcing people to suffer heavy rains and storms that have impacted wildlife, land, and communities. They first began being protected in 2001 after a series of earthquakes. Their TPS, set to expire in March, will be extended until September 9, 2026.
Moving forward, activists are advocating for TPS extensions for those currently protected by it, as well to extend protection to immigrants from Guatemala and Ecuador.
