Biden to Extend Deportation Exemption for 300K+ Undocumented Immigrants.

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday that it will extend deportation relief and work permits through 2025 for over 300,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. This move by President Joe Biden’s administration maintains the status quo and stops short of a broader expansion of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program supported by some Democrats and immigrant advocates who say more pathways are needed for people to live and work legally in the United States.

Former President Donald Trump, a Republican and immigration hardliner seeking his party’s nomination in 2024, sought to end TPS for the four countries and others during his tenure, but his effort was rebuffed by U.S. courts. Biden’s Democratic administration is rescinding Trump’s earlier decisions as part of the process of extending the relief for immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal.

TPS allows people who cannot return to their home countries due to natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary measures to remain in the United States and obtain work permits. Designations typically last six to 18 months but can be renewed indefinitely. Some TPS designations have been in place for decades, but they do not lead to permanent U.S. status.

The latest decision by the Biden administration will allow TPS renewals for 239,000 Salvadorans who have resided in the U.S. since 2001. Some 76,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans in the U.S. since 1998 are eligible, along with 14,500 Nepalese in the country since 2015.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua living in the U.S. illegally will not be covered by the TPS extension since they arrived after the cutoff dates.

Some Democrats, including New York City mayor Eric Adams, have pressed the Biden administration to expand access to work permits for newly arrived migrants, saying it will reduce the strain on local governments receiving people who have recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.