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In a last-minute move, President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has granted an extended stay to over one million migrants, dealing a heavy blow to President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
The department has specifically extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protection for 1,900 Sudanese migrants, 103,700 Ukrainian migrants, 232,000 Salvadoran migrants, and even 600,000 Venezuelan migrants.
Recall that Venezuela is home to the violent Tren de Aragua prison gang, though in recent years the gang has been making pockets of America its new home.
Violent Venezuelan gang ‘empowered’ and spreading in U.S.; 20 members WALK after NYC crime spree https://t.co/i5QVA5u8qu
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) October 17, 2024
The extension will last 18 months, thus preventing Trump from deporting any of the 937,600 migrants during the first half of his upcoming presidency.
The New York Times notes that this last-minute gambit “makes it almost impossible for President-elect Donald J. Trump to swiftly strip the benefit when he takes office.”
“Because President Biden has extended protection for the nationals of all these countries, President Trump will be unable to deport these individuals any time soon,” Cornell Law School immigration scholar Steve Yale-Loehr told the Times.
“The extension of Temporary Protected Status, as the program is called, allows the immigrants to remain in the country with work permits and a shield from deportation for another 18 months from the expiration of their current protection in the spring,” the Times notes.
The Biden administration granted another extension for a TEMPORARY status citing that El Salvador is unsafe from a 2001 earthquake. TPS is a scam on the American people. https://t.co/qoZJPN4Ygt
— Katie Miller (@katierosemiller) January 10, 2025
TPS originates with an H.W. Bush-era law from 1990 that grants work permits to migrants from up to 16 countries so long as their home nation is at the time facing major political instability.
Trump, to his credit, tried to scrap the program during his first term in office but was blocked by the left-wing courts.
“The move was challenged in court and did not take effect, but he is expected to try again during his second term, as part of his pledge to conduct mass deportations,” the Times notes.
Indeed, in October he vowed to eliminate TPS for all the Haitian migrants living in Springfield, Ohio, the town where some Haitians were reported to have been kidnapping and eating pets.
“Absolutely, I’d revoke it and I’d bring them back to their country,” he told NewsNation at the time.
Donald Trump said he would “absolutely” revoke temporary protection status for Haitian migrants in order to have them removed from Springfield, Ohio, in an exclusive interview with NewsNation’s @AliBradleyTV.
MORE: https://t.co/T8JNEbH6IM pic.twitter.com/uVVxialnGq
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) October 3, 2024
However, according to Yale-Loehr, this may simply not be possible.
“Trump can’t ignore what Congress wrote into law in 1990,” he told the Times.
This last-minute move by the Biden administration is of course being celebrated by Democrats.
“This decision provides relief and stability to hundreds of thousands of individuals who cannot safely return to their home countries due to ongoing environmental and political crises,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat said.
I applaud @POTUS and @SecMayorkas for extending TPS to Venezuela and El Salvador.
Read my full statement here: https://t.co/12eNtGeyMp pic.twitter.com/KbLQPKTKHk
— Adriano Espaillat (@RepEspaillat) January 11, 2025
The public, meanwhile, is angry and demanding changes, including the firing of everybody currently staffed at DHS.
“I hope y’all understand that as many of you as possible are fired ten days from now,” one critic tweeted. “Hope you know how to code, you anti-American b*st*rds.”
“Everyone in a leadership position @DHS should be fired immediately.,” another critic added. “Maybe prosecuted for abandoning our border.”
Look at more responses below:
You’ll do what you’re told in ten days.
— LivingFractal (@Mustard5) January 10, 2025
Big mistake!! I hope Trump shuts this down. This is a slap to the memory of #LakenRiley
— Michael (@arismendius) January 11, 2025
Ugh just how much did you monsters HATE Americans?! I can’t wait until you demons are gone.
— Misty (@Itsraining2) January 11, 2025
Anyone who participates in these extensions and press releases should be imprisoned for life and all assets seized, for treason against the United States of America. Mayorkas belongs in Gitmo.
— NotaPCPerson (@NotaPCPerson) January 11, 2025
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