President Joe Biden has taken a significant step by renewing the deportation relief covering over 800,000 immigrants from Venezuela, Ukraine, El Salvador and Sudan. This development comes ahead of Trump assuming powers as US President on January 20 and whose stand about immigrants is completely opposite to Biden. About 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 200,000 Salvadorans already living in the United States can legally remain another 18 months, the Department of Homeland Security said on Friday.
The decisions mark the Biden administration’s latest in support of Temporary Protected Status, which he has sharply 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. The announcement, which came as Venezuelan President Nicolás 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. The TPS designation gives people legal authority to be in the country but it doesn’t provide them a long-term path to citizenship. They are reliant on the government renewing their status when it expires. Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strive, giving people authorisation 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 and Lebanon. Salvadorans are one of the largest beneficiaries, having won TPS in 2001 after earthquakes rocked the Central American country.
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