Temporary Protected Status TPS

Congress created Temporary Protected Status in the Immigration Act of 1990. The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a country whose nationals cannot safely return because of armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary conditions, for periods of 6 to 18 months that can be extended. People from that country already in the United States by a set date can apply for permission to stay and work, regardless of how they entered, but TPS does not by itself lead to a green card.

Designations have often lasted for decades as conditions persisted and extensions piled up, for example for El Salvador since 2001 and Honduras and Nicaragua since 1999. By early 2025 about 1.3 million people from 17 countries held TPS, the largest groups from Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, and Honduras.

In 2025 and 2026 the administration moved to end TPS for at least 11 countries, saying conditions had improved and that the program had become a backdoor to permanent residence. Courts blocked several terminations, but the Supreme Court allowed the end of TPS for about 350,000 Venezuelans in 2025 and, in June 2026, for about 360,000 Haitians and Syrians while lawsuits continued. Supporters of ending TPS say temporary means temporary, while opponents say returning people to unstable countries is dangerous and that long-time holders have built lives, families, and businesses here.