Dems urge Biden to extend controversial immigrant program, Trump says he'll cut it
A controversial immigration program that has been in place for decades has recently become a hot-button issue as it looks likely to be axed or severely limited by the incoming Trump administration, and Democrats are calling on President Biden to take moves to preserve it.
Temporary Protected Status is a program established in the 1990s that allows the government to designate countries unsafe for nationals to return to, granting nationals already in the U.S. work permits and protection from deportation if they are here illegally or if their legal status expires.
The Biden administration designated or re-designated a number of countries for TPS, including Venezuela, Haiti, Afghanistan and others, allowing hundreds of thousands of nationals to remain in the U.S. as a result. There are currently 17 countries designated for TPS.
The first Trump administration sought to wind down TPS for a number of countries, but it was caught up in a yearslong court battle launched by left-wing civil rights groups on the matter.
TPS again became a major issue in 2024 as Republicans and conservatives drew attention to mass migration via humanitarian parole from Haiti. Migrants were coming in via the use of the CBP One app and a program that allowed up to 30,000 migrants from four countries a month into the U.S. They could then be eligible for TPS if they arrived before the country was re-designated.
There were widespread reports of Haitian migrants flooding towns in Ohio and elsewhere, which were picked up by former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. Trump promised to revoke TPS for Haiti earlier this year.
"It’s been overrun. You can’t do that to people. I’d revoke [TPS], and I’d bring [the migrants] back to their country," he told NewsNation when speaking about Springfield, Ohio.
Vance described TPS as a "government edict saying that you’re not allowed to deport people anymore." Conservatives have long complained that continued extensions of TPS mean it is not "temporary" as it claims to be.
Republicans have made moves to restrict the program in Congress. Sen.-elect Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced a bill that restricts TPS designations by requiring Congress to approve them for 12-month terms and requiring additional moves by Congress to extend them. Trump has promised to launch a mass deportation operation, and restrictions on TPS and other immigration benefits are expected to accompany that.
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With that looming, Democrats have been urging Biden to extend protections under TPS and other programs to blunt the impact of the incoming administration.
"We write now because the window to secure and finalize your administration’s policies is closing rapidly," Democrats led by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Biden in a letter this month.
"We urge you to act decisively between now and the inauguration of the President-elect to complete the important work of the past four years and protect immigrant families."
So far, however, there has not been any movement on TPS by the Biden administration nor any indication that any redesignations or extensions are imminent.