Biden Extends Sweeping Deportation Protection to Nearly One Million Immigrants Before Trump Takes Office

Washington: President Joe Biden has taken a major 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 regarding immigrants is completely opposite to Biden. 

Biden Extends Protection to Over 800,000 Immigrants in His Last Few Days as US President

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, barely a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office with promises of hardline immigration policies.

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.

What is Temporary Protected Status (TPS)?

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. Conservative critics have said that over time, the renewal of the protection status becomes automatic, regardless of what is happening in the person's home country.

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.

TPS for Salvadorans was to expired in March 2025 and was extended until September 9, 2026. 

Trump's Stand on Immigrants in US

Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, suggested they would scale back the use of TPS and policies granting temporary status as they pursue mass deportations. During his first administration, Trump ended TPS for El Salvador but was held up in court.

DHS said the extension of TPS for 234,000 Salvadorans that currently are TPS beneficiaries is based on geological and weather events. Significant storms and heavy rainfall in 2023 and 2024 continued to affect areas heavily impacted by earthquakes in 2001.

In the last months advocates have increased pressure on the Biden administration to ask for TPS extensions for those who already have it, and to protect people from other countries, like Guatemala and Ecuador.

“This extension is just a small victory,” said Felipe Arnoldo Díaz, an activist with the National TPS Alliance. “Our biggest concern is that after El Salvador, there are countries whose TPS are expiring soon and are being left out, like Venezuela, Nepal, Sudan, Nicaragua, and Honduras”.

(Inputs from AP)