TPS Status Reinstated Temporarily While Case is Before Courts

Last October, The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction against the suspension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. All were scheduled to lose their TPS status this year as a result of decisions by the Trump Administration, but because of the injunction, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declared that those with TPS status will continue to have it until reaches a final judicial order. 

As a result of the decision, the Trump Administration has chosen to link the TPS status of Hondurans and Nepalis to the outcome of the case as well. That means that they too temporarily still have TPS status, which gives this case particular relevance in New Orleans, with its substantial Honduran population.

Those with TPS do not need to file for extensions because “DHS is automatically extending the valid of TPS-Related Documentation,” according to the official announcement in the Federal Register. They may, however, wish to apply for extensions of their work authorization cards—extensions that they won’t be eligible for if TPS protections are once again withdrawn. 

At the moment, immigrants from 10 nations have TPS: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. They total 318,000 people to the Pew Research Center, approximately three percent of the unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2016. In many cases, they are people who have been in the country for more than a decade and who have started families and established roots in their communities.

El Salvadorans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Sudanese people in the United States should use this time to extend their work authorization as the case works its way through the courts. They should also explore ways to get permanent status because the long term future of TPS isn’t clear.

In other TPS-related news, DHS has extended TPS beneficiaries from the 84 people who have such status from South Sudan until Nov. 2, 2020.