The Biden administration will extend the temporary legal status of roughly 337,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday.
Immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras will be allowed to stay and work in the country for an additional 18 months under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), DHS said. TPS is granted due to either armed conflict, environmental disaster, an epidemic or other “extraordinary” conditions, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). (RELATED: Biden Officials Privately Fear Another Spike In Illegal Immigration: REPORT)
“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,” DHS Alejandro Mayorkas said. “We will continue to offer support to them through this temporary form of humanitarian relief.”
A US Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol vehicle is driven along the US-Mexico border wall in El Paso, Texas on May 10, 2023. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
The announcement marks a stark shift from the Trump administration’s plan to deport the immigrants, according to CBS News. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has expanded TPS at an unprecedented rate to include 16 countries.
The decision is tied to a pending court case that sought to target the Trump administration’s plan to end most TPS designations, a source familiar told CBS News.
At the end of 2021, there were 241,699 Salvadorans, 76,737 Hondurans, 14,556 Nepalis and 4,250 Nicaraguans enrolled in the program, according to USCIS.
Some Biden officials have expressed concerns with expanding TPS, saying it could lead to an influx of illegal immigration at the southern border, according to CBS News. Although it wouldn’t apply to immigrants not already in the country, TPS could be a “pull factor” for some migrants, officials told CBS News.
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