US says Ukrainians and Sudanese can keep protected status — for now
The US Department of Homeland Security said immigrants from Ukraine and Sudan can keep their Temporary Protected Status for now, the day their protections were set to expire.
Immigrants from Ukraine and Sudan can keep their Temporary Protected Status “for now”, the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday, the day the protections had been set to expire.
In a statement, a DHS spokesperson said announcements on Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders would “be made at the appropriate time” and that protections “would remain in place”. CBS News had been given the same word a day earlier: enrollees would “retain protection” until final decisions were announced.
The reprieve is the second in as many months. In September, the administration allowed TPS holders from El Salvador to retain their protections after moving to revoke them from Haitians, Venezuelans, Somalis, Yemenis, Syrians and others. CBS News reported that over the past year and a half the administration has revoked TPS for more than 1 million immigrants from over a dozen countries as part of its immigration crackdown.
Reuters reported some 240,000 Ukrainians had registered for TPS status in the United States, and an estimated 6,800 TPS holders from Sudan, where an army-paramilitary war has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Global Refuge, a faith-based refugee nonprofit, welcomed the respite but pressed for a formal decision. “The appropriate time to act was weeks ago. Families who depend on this status to stay safe and keep working deserve a formal decision in writing,” its CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah said.
Ukrainian Embassy spokeswoman Halyna Yusypiuk said, via The Washington Post, that she expected a six-month extension — but DHS has confirmed nothing.
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