The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that immigrants from Ukraine and Sudan enrolled in the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program will maintain their deportation protections for now. The announcement comes as the existing protections for these individuals were officially scheduled to terminate on Monday.
DHS stated on Sunday that final decisions regarding the future of these humanitarian immigration programs will be made "at the appropriate time." Until those final decisions are finalized and announced, the agency confirmed that nationals from Ukraine and Sudan currently enrolled in the program will "retain protection."
TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to provide temporary deportation reprieves and work permits to foreign nationals in the U.S. if their home countries are experiencing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other crises. The program for Ukrainians was established in the spring of 2022 following the Russian invasion, while the program for Sudan has existed since the late 1990s due to ongoing conflict and political instability.
The Trump administration has previously revoked TPS protections for more than 1 million immigrants from over a dozen countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, and Venezuela. Administration officials have described TPS as a policy that encourages illegal immigration and is subject to frequent extensions despite its intended temporary nature. The programs for Ukraine, Sudan, and El Salvador are among the few that remain active nearly two years into President Trump's second term.
The extension provides a reprieve for households that rely on these work permits for income and for employers who retain these workers. Without this action, these individuals would have faced the possibility of removal to countries still experiencing armed conflict. The decision follows a similar pattern seen last month with the TPS program for El Salvador, where protections were also maintained pending a final announcement rather than being allowed to lapse on their scheduled expiration date.
The specific day-to-day impact is the continued validity of employment authorization documents, which allow participants to work legally in the U.S. market. However, because the DHS has not issued a final decision, the long-term status of these individuals remains uncertain. A final announcement from the Department of Homeland Security is expected at an unspecified future date, which will determine whether these protections are formally extended for a new term or eventually terminated.