The Biden administration is expanding Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for nationals in the U.S. from a handful of countries.
TPS is given to nationals from countries that have been deemed too dangerous to return to, because of things like conflict or natural disaster.
This month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the status would be re-designated for current recipients from El Salvador, Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mayorkas said the impacts of environmental disasters in those countries had made them unsafe to return to, and current TPS recipients already in the U.S. could apply to extend the status for another 18 months.
TPS is a temporary immigration status that's only available to people already in the U.S. from countries currently listed by Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Trump administration moved to cancel the TPS status of all four countries re-designated this month. Ongoing legal battles have blocked those efforts.
