Biden extends stay in the US for over 900,000 immigrants from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan

About 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 230,000 El Salvadorans currently living in the United States can stay in the country legally for another 18 months, the US Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday, more than a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office with a promise of tougher immigration policies.

President Biden's administration has strongly supported Temporary Protected Status, the beneficiaries of which are about 1 million people from 17 different countries.

Temporary Protected Status, known by the initials TPS, allows individuals currently in the United States to legally remain and work in the U.S. if their homeland is deemed unsafe due to natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary events.

The future of the Temporary Protected Status program is uncertain under President Trump, who sought to significantly limit its use during his first term as President.

President-elect Trump's transition team did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters by the time this news was published.

The US Department of Homeland Security extended the stay in the US for 103,000 citizens from Ukraine and 1,900 from Sudan, who already live in the United States.

For José Palma, a 48-year-old from El Salvador who has lived in the U.S. since 1998, the decision means that for now at least, he will continue to work legally in Houston. He is the only person in his family with temporary status; his four children were born in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens, and his wife has obtained permanent resident status in the United States. If the TPS program is not extended, he could be deported and separated from the rest of his family. "It brings me a little peace. It gives me a little stability," he says.

This status allows individuals to remain legally in the country, but does not provide them with a long-term path to citizenship. They are dependent on the government to renew their status when it expires. Conservative critics have said that over time, renewal occurs automatically, regardless of the situation in the person's country of origin.

Friday's announcement, which came after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took office for a third six-year term, "is based on the grave humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to the political and economic crises under the Maduro regime," the US Department of Homeland Security said.

This Department cited "environmental conditions in El Salvador that prevent individuals from returning," particularly heavy rains and storms in the past two years.

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have suggested that they will limit the use of the TPS program and policies that grant temporary status while implementing mass deportation policies.

In recent months, activists have increased pressure on the Biden administration to seek an extension of the TPS threshold for those who are already beneficiaries as well as to protect people from other countries such as Guatemala and Ecuador./VOA