Biden issues sweeping deportation protections before Trump takes office

The Biden administration on Friday issued sweeping extensions of deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Sudan, Ukraine, El Salvador and Venezuela, in a move that makes it nearly impossible for President-elect Donald J. Trump to quickly revoke the benefit when he takes office.

The extension of Temporary Protected Status, as the program is called, allows the immigrants to stay in the country with work permits and a shield from deportation for an additional 18 months from the expiration of their current protection in the spring. Late last year, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken recommended that protection be extended in a series of letters.

For decades, Democratic and Republican administrations have singled out the protections for citizens of countries that are in turmoil and considered unsafe to return to. President Biden has expanded who could receive the status as war broke out in Ukraine and instability gripped countries like Venezuela and Haiti.

“These designations are rooted in careful review and interagency cooperation to ensure that those affected by environmental disasters and instability receive the protections they need while continuing to contribute meaningfully to our communities,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Mr. Trump has promised to end the program, at least for certain countries. Immigrant advocates had called on the Biden administration to expand it to many of those countries before he takes office.

In his first term, Mr. Trump revoked the status of about 400,000 people from El Salvador and other countries, arguing that conditions there had changed and that protection was no longer warranted. The move was challenged in court and did not take effect, but he is expected to try again during his second term, as part of his pledge to implement mass deportations.

According to the Congressional Research Service, more than one million migrants from countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East had temporary protected status as of 2024.

The move makes it legally difficult for Mr. Trump to roll back the protections for citizens of the four countries, at least until they expire some time in 2026.

“Because President Biden has extended protections for the citizens of all these countries, President Trump will not be able to deport these individuals at any point,” said Steve Yale-Loehr, an immigration scholar at Cornell Law School.

“Trump cannot ignore what Congress wrote into law in 1990,” he said.

About 600,000 Venezuelans who currently have the protection will be allowed to renew and remain in the United States until October 2026, and approximately 232,000 immigrants from El Salvador will be able to do so. More than 100,000 Ukrainians will also be able to stay in the United States until October 2026. About 1,900 people from Sudan will also be allowed to renew their status.

The program was signed by President George HW Bush to ensure that foreign nationals already in the United States can stay in the country if it is not safe for them to return to their home country due to a natural disaster, armed conflict or other upheaval.

On the campaign trail, JD Vance, the vice president-elect, called the program illegal as he criticized Haitians who had settled in his home state of Ohio and benefited from it. Haiti has experienced political unrest and gang violence, and about 200,000 of its citizens are protected from removal under TPS until early 2026.

“We will stop making bulk grants of temporary protected status,” said Mr. Vance in October.

Critics have argued that the temporary protections are repeatedly extended and act as a de facto means of enabling people to stay in the country indefinitely, contrary to its intention to be a short-term solution.

While the program has become almost permanent for many immigrants, it also highlights how troubled many corners of the world are and the inability of Congress to pass legislation to update the US immigration system to the realities of contemporary global migration.

Immigrants from several countries, including El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, have been eligible for the protection for more than two decades. Other countries, such as Ethiopia, Lebanon and Syria, were added recently.

If the status were eliminated, hundreds of thousands of immigrants would immediately become illegal residents of the United States unless they left immediately. Many of them have American-born children, businesses and jobs in sectors that rely on immigrant labor such as construction, hospitality and health care.

In cities like Denver, the temporary status has allowed thousands of Venezuelans, who arrived in the past two years from the southern border on buses provided by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to legally work there and integrate into the economy.

Mike Johnston, the city’s mayor, said he welcomed the Biden administration’s announcement to extend the designation.

“In Denver, people with Temporary Protected Status work critical jobs, contribute to our economy and become integrated members of our community,” he said.

Gonzalo Roa, 43, a Venezuelan who is a recipient in Columbus, Ohio, said he had been anxious about the program’s fate.

“It’s good news that it’s being renewed,” said Mr. Roa, who works at a car dealership and runs a small restaurant with his wife.

Without status, said Mr. Roa, he would lose his job at the dealership and his two Venezuelan-born children would not be eligible for college scholarships and other benefits that require legal status.