About 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 230,000 Salvadorans already living in the United States can legally remain another 18 months, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday, barely a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office with promises of hard-line immigration policies.
Biden’s administration has strongly supported Temporary Protected Status, which he has expanded to cover about 1 million people. TPS faces an uncertain future under Trump, who tried to sharply curtail its use during his first term as president. Federal regulations would allow the extensions to be terminated early, although that’s never been done before.
Homeland Security also extended TPS for more than 103,000 Ukrainians and 1,900 Sudanese who are already living in the U.S.
The TPS designation gives people legal authority to be in the country, but it doesn’t provide a long-term path to citizenship. They are reliant on the government renewing their status when it expires. Conservative critics have said that over time, the renewal of the protection status becomes automatic, regardless of what is happening in the person’s home country.
Friday’s announcement, which came as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took office for a third six-year term in Caracas amid widespread international condemnation, is “based on the severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crises under the Maduro regime,” the department said.
Homeland Security cited “environmental conditions in El Salvador that prevent individuals from returning,” specifically heavy rains and storms in the last two years.
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.
About 1 million immigrants from 17 countries are protected by TPS, including people from Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon. Venezuelans are one of the largest beneficiaries, and their extension runs from April 2025 to October 2, 2026.
Salvadorans won TPS in 2001 after earthquakes rocked the Central American country. TPS for Salvadorans was to expire in March and was extended until Sept. 9, 2026.
Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, suggested they would scale back the use of TPS and policies granting temporary status as they pursue mass deportations. During his first administration, Trump ended TPS for El Salvador but was held up in court.
In recent months, advocates have increased pressure on the Biden administration to ask for TPS extensions for those who already have it and to protect people from other countries such as Guatemala and Ecuador.
“This extension is just a small victory,” said Felipe Arnoldo Diaz, an activist with the National TPS Alliance. “Our biggest concern is that after El Salvador, there are countries whose TPS are expiring soon and are being left out,” such as Nepal, Nicaragua and Honduras.
The money that Salvadorans send home is a major economic support for the Central American country, potentially complicating efforts to end TPS for the U.S. ally. Trump has had warm relations with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who worked closely with him on preventing illegal immigration to the U.S. Remittances amount to about $7.5 billion a year.
Bukele is immensely popular, largely because his heavy-handed security efforts have eviscerated the country’s street gangs.
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