More than 105,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan will keep their deportation protections that were set to end Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced Sunday.
The move keeps those immigrants under the temporary protected status, which allows them to live and work in the U.S. Although that status was set to end Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not issue an official decision to terminate TPS for Ukraine and Sudan.
DHS issued the same statement for both countries Sunday, saying that an announcement would be made at an appropriate time and Ukrainians and Sudanese people in the country under TPS would retain protection.
The announcement comes after DHS left immigrants from El Salvador in the same state of limbo after the designation expired for the Central American country last month. But the Trump administration, with the backing of the Supreme Court, has moved to wipe the temporary protection designations for most of the countries that had them, including by targeting Haitians who sought refuge in the U.S. after their protections ended in July.
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Congress established TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries deemed too unsafe because of armed conflict, natural disasters or other humanitarian crises.
Approximately 103,700 Ukrainians and 1,900 Sudanese people are beneficiaries of the program, according to DHS. The Biden administration granted TPS for Ukraine in 2022 because of the war with Russia, and Sudanese immigrants have had the status for nearly 30 years because of the ongoing armed conflict, displacement of millions inside the country and famine.
A bipartisan group of Senators had introduced a bill in September extending TPS for Ukrainians.
“The reality is that it is simply not safe for them to return to Ukraine,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement announcing the legislation. “We should not force Ukrainians who we allowed into the U.S. and who are here legally and contributing to our communities back into an active war zone.”
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