DHS Extends Deportation Protections to Nationals From 4 Countries

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended protections from deportation to individuals, including those who entered the country illegally, from Ukraine, Sudan, El Salvador, and Venezuela, with just 10 days to go before the Trump administration takes office. DHS said on Friday that it would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) orders to nationals from those countries because their governments would not be able to accept them if they were deported by the United States. It means that about 600,000 Venezuelans, more than 230,000 Salvadorans, more than 103,000 Ukrainians, and 1,900 Sudanese already living in the United States can legally remain for another 18 months. The TPS designation allows those individuals to be in the country but doesn’t provide them with a long-term path to citizenship. They are reliant on the government renewing their status when it expires. Critics have said that over time, the renewal of the protection status becomes automatic, regardless of what is happening in the person’s home country....