Biden extends deportation protections ahead of Trump’s swearing-in

President Joe Biden on Friday extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela, granting them 18 more months of deportation protections and work permits.

The New York Times reports this measure effectively shields them from President-elect Donald Trump’s immediate efforts to strip these protections when he takes office.

“These designations are rooted in careful review and interagency collaboration to ensure those affected by environmental disasters and instability are given the protections they need while continuing to contribute meaningfully to our communities,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security.

TPS, a program signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, provides temporary protections for immigrants unable to return to their home countries due to armed conflict, natural disasters, or instability.

As of 2024, over one million migrants from countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East benefit from this program, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The extension includes 600,000 Venezuelans, who can now stay until October 2026, and more than 100,000 Ukrainians, whose protection lasts until August 2026. Smaller groups, such as 1,900 Sudanese and 232,000 Salvadorans, also benefit.

“This makes it legally difficult for President Trump to deport these individuals anytime soon,” said Steve Yale-Loehr, an immigration scholar at Cornell Law School. “Trump can’t ignore what Congress wrote into law in 1990.”

While immigrant advocates praised the decision, critics like Vice President-elect J.D. Vance have argued the programme is being misused as a long-term solution rather than its intended short-term relief.

Vance, who criticised TPS on the campaign trail, said, “We’re going to stop doing mass grants of Temporary Protected Status.”

For beneficiaries like Gonzalo Roa, a 43-year-old Venezuelan in Ohio, the renewal is a lifeline, NYT reports Friday.

“Without this status, I’d lose my job and my children wouldn’t qualify for scholarships,” he said. Roa, who works at a car dealership and runs a restaurant with his wife, welcomed the news but remains anxious about the programme’s future.

In November, Trump announced he planned to declare a national emergency on border security and use the US military to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented migrants.

In December, he said he also intended to end birthright citizenship.

Meanwhile, he recently expressed intent to ensure that those who completed their degree studies in the US get a green card to stay back.

PUNCH Online reports that Trump’s swearing-in ceremony will be held on January 20.