Jan. 11 (UPI) — President Joe Biden‘s administration has extended by 18 months the temporary protected status for nearly 1 million migrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela due to “extraordinary and temporary conditions” in those nations.
The extensions apply to up to 937,600 migrants from the four nations who have legally and illegally entered the United States due to conditions in their respective home nations, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday.
The extensions apply to undocumented as well as documented migrants from the respective nations and include extensions of their respective employment authorization documents to enable them to work in the United States.
An estimated 600,000 qualifying Venezuelans who have continuously resided in the United States at least since July 31, 2023, have their TPS extended to Oct. 2, 2026.
The TPS extensions for qualifying Venezuelans is needed due to the “severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crisis under the inhumane [President Nicolas] Maduro regime,” DHS officials said Friday in a press release.
“These conditions have contributed to high levels of crime and violence, impacting access to food, medicine, healthcare, water, electricity and fuel,” DHS officials said.
Those who have been convicted of a felony or at least two misdemeanors are excluded from the TPS extension.
Qualifying Venezuelans also have their work authorizations automatically extended through April 2, 2026.
DHS officials determined “continued political instability that has triggered human rights abuses, including direct attacks on civilians” require an extension of TPS for Sudanese migrants who have lived in the United States, with or without authorization, since at least Aug. 16, 2023.
“Militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies,” DHS officials said Friday in a press release.
The TPS extension affects about 1,900 Sudanese migrants and automatically extends their employment authorization documents to continue working in the United States for another 12 months.
About 103,700 Ukrainian migrants who have lived in the United States since at least Aug. 16, 2023, also have their TPS automatically extended for 18 months.
The extension for Ukrainian migrants is needed due to the “expansion of the Russian military invasion into Ukraine,” which is “the largest conventional military action in Europe since World War II,” DHS officials said Friday in a news release.
“Russia’s expanded military invasion has led to high numbers of civilian casualties and reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian military forces and officials,” DHS officials said.
“This invasion has caused a humanitarian crisis, with significant numbers of individuals fleeing and damage to civilian infrastructure that has left many without electricity or access to medical services.”
Ukrainian migrants who have lived in the United States since Aug. 16, 2023, qualify for the automatic 18-month TPS extension. Qualifying Ukrainian migrants also will have their EAD status extended by 12 months.
About 232,000 El Salvadoran migrants also received extended TPS status to Sept. 9, 2026, due to “environmental conditions in El Salvador that prevent individuals from safely returning,” according to a DHS press release issued Friday.
DHS officials cited “continued conditions from environmental disasters that resulted in substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in affected areas of El Salvador” as cause for extending the TPS for qualifying El Salvadorans.
Those environmental disasters include “significant storms and heavy rainfall in 2023 and 2024 that continue to affect areas heavily impacted by earthquakes in 2001,” according to DHS.
DHS officials also have extended qualifying El Salvadoran migrants’ employment authorization documents through March 9, 2026.