Biden extends temporary status for immigrants from Ukraine, Venezuela

President Joe Biden’s incoming administration has announced a new extension of the temporary protection order granted to immigrants from nations where the United States has determined it is unsafe to immigrate.

Friday’s announcement pertains to individuals from four specific countries: El Salvador, Sudan, Venezuela and Ukraine.

In each case, the designation of “temporary protected status” (TPS) has been extended for 18 months, based on continuing threats from war, humanitarian crises and natural disasters.

However, the extension does not address immigration advocates’ suggestions to expand eligibility because it only applies to those who are already protected by the program.

However, Donald Trump’s incoming administration has a reputation for making a parting shot at him, who has pledged to outlaw immigration when he takes office on January 20.

An estimated 1, 900 Sudanese, 103, 700 Ukrainians, 232, 000&nbsp, Salvadorans and 600, 000 Venezuelans are eligible for the TPS extension.

They must, however, re-register for the programme to take advantage of the 18-month extension.

Since his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, Trump has targeted the TPS program.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that immigrants from nations like El Salvador, Haiti, and Sudan would be granted temporary protected status as a result of that administration.

Trump’s decision to end the program was ultimately supported by a federal court in 2020, raising concerns that immigrants in the nation could eventually be expelled legally.

In 2021, Biden reversed his course, increasing the number of people who are eligible for temporary protected status and adding nations like Venezuela and Afghanistan to the list.

Human rights organizations praised those modifications and praised the protections as urgently needed.

However, organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pushed Biden to pursue a more comprehensive approach to protecting people who are fleeing war, human rights violations, and other tragedies.

In a 2022 statement, for instance, Emi Maclean, a staff lawyer at the ACLU’s branch in Northern California, pointed out that short-term extensions to TPS ultimately provide little security to immigrants over the long term.

“Today, TPS holders still do not have permanent residence, along with all the civil rights and political equality they deserve”, Maclean said.

The majority of the population has spent decades in this nation.

Others criticized Biden for enforcing restrictions on other legal immigration procedures, such as the asylum application process. Additionally, the Biden administration has not extended TPS protections to Palestinians and other foreigners in desperate need, raising suspicions of a double standard.

In the name of public safety, Biden continued to support several hardline immigration policies that he inherited from Trump, including the contentious Title 42 measure, which allowed the US to quickly deport migrants and asylum seekers from the southern border.

As a result of that measure’s repeated court challenges, the asylum law was quashed. After the COVID-19 pandemic’s emergency declaration came to an end in May 2023, Title 42 finally expired.

Still, under Biden, the Pew Research Center estimates nearly 1.2 million non-citizen immigrants, out of a total of 21.6 million in the US, became eligible for TPS.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, however, immigration became a topic of fierce debate, with Trump proposing “mass deportation” efforts if he were elected for a second term.

Trump reacted with false information about the Springfield, Ohio community where he previously claimed Haitians ate household pets when asked by News Nation in October whether he would revoke his TPS status for Haitian immigrants.

“You have to remove the people. We cannot destroy our country”, Trump told News Nation.

“It doesn’t work. It can’t work. It is unrelated to Haiti or anything else. It doesn’t work. He further stated that you must remove the population and bring them back to their home country. “In my opinion, it’s not legal. It’s not legal for anyone to do”.

Trump’s immigration crackdown plans to continue during his first 100 days in office, and he ultimately won the 2024 election.

In Friday’s announcement, however, Biden’s administration emphasised the dire conditions that made the TPS extensions necessary.

Returning immigrants to Ukraine, for instance, would expose them to the violence of Russia’s ongoing invasion, which has “has led to high numbers of civilian casualties and reports of war crimes”, Homeland Security said in its statement.

In El Salvador, it explained, natural disasters like heavy storms and earthquakes have created perilous living conditions. And in Venezuela, “political and economic crises” under the “inhumane” government of Nicolas Maduro made returning unsafe.

The US also brought up Sudan, where paramilitary forces were earlier this week accused of carrying out a genocide campaign.

“Militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies”, Homeland Security wrote.

Source: Aljazeera