WASHINGTON - The Biden administration on Friday extended temporary humanitarian protections for nearly 1 million immigrants living in the United States, announcing the move days before the start of a possible deportation campaign by the incoming Trump administration.

Immigrants from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan who have a form of provisional residency known as temporary protected status will be eligible to renew their permits for 18 months, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Lawmakers and immigrant advocates had been urging the department to extend the protected designation for these nationalities and others under a 1990 law that shields immigrants from being deported to countries engulfed in conflict or natural disasters.

Trump and his top aides say they are gearing up to launch the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. There are about 11 million immigrants in the United States without legal status, according to the latest DHS estimates. Trump aides say their deportation campaign will prioritize immigrants with criminal records.

By far the largest group to benefit from Biden’s move are Venezuelans, with roughly 600,000 eligible to renew their protected status through October 2026. The protected status is available only to Venezuelans who arrived in the United States before the end of July 2023.

Friday’s move also affects about 232,000 Salvadorans eligible for the extended protections, along with 103,700 Ukrainians and 1,900 Sudanese, according to DHS estimates.

Illegal entries along the U.S.-Mexico border averaged 2 million a year during Biden’s first three years in office, an influx that included record numbers of arrivals from Venezuela.

Protections for Salvadorans had been set to expire March 9, less than two months after Trump takes office. DHS granted an 18-month extension, which ends Sept. 9, 2026.

Federal records show that the U.S. government has extended the protections for Salvadorans a dozen times over the past two decades. The only Salvadorans currently eligible for TPS are those who arrived in the United States before a pair of 2001 earthquakes shattered parts of the country. Many were undocumented immigrants and, although they have work permits, they are ineligible to apply for citizenship.

Protections typically last a year to 18 months. They are set to expire for other countries such as Honduras in the coming months.

On Friday, the Biden administration said Salvadorans merit the extension based on a continuing “environmental disaster” in that country, according to federal records. El Salvador has not fully recovered from the 2001 earthquakes, officials said in the records, and continues to experience powerful hurricanes, landslides and poverty.

The country cannot absorb the huge influx of new residents that could occur if the protections ended, the records said. To apply for temporary protection, immigrants must fill out an application and pass criminal background checks.

Biden had urged Congress to create a path to citizenship for these and other longtime residents ineligible to apply for citizenship, saying they are workers, homeowners and the parents of U.S. citizen children. But his efforts failed amid a historic influx of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border. (Source: The Washington Post)

Story Date: January 11, 2025