Ukrainian and Sudanese immigrants covered by Temporary Protected Status will retain their deportation protections and work permits beyond the programs' scheduled Oct. 19 expiration, according to CBS News, entering the same uncertain wait that Salvadorans immigrants have faced since their own deadline passed last month.
The Department of Homeland Security told CBS News immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez that Until those decisions are announced, beneficiaries will maintain their protections, he reported in the posts shared with this reporter. The assurance leaves their longer-term future unresolved.
For roughly 200,000 Salvadorans, that uncertainty is already familiar. Their latest TPS extension ran through Sept. 9. DHS subsequently said beneficiaries would retain protection, including work authorization, until the department announced its decision. The agency offered no date for that announcement, acording to ABC 10.
The Salvadoran experience also exposes a practical problem for Ukrainians and Sudanese approaching their deadline: assurances that people can remain and work may leave unanswered questions about the documents employers need to verify their eligibility.
In a Sept. 10 practice alert, the American Immigration Lawyers Association said DHS's updated guidance appeared to continue Salvadorans' protections and employment authorization. However, the association said the duration remained unclear, along with how employers should document that authorization on Form I-9. Its warning concerned proof of eligibility, even after DHS expressly included work authorization in its assurance.
Federal law requires the government to review country conditions before a TPS designation expires. It provides for a six-month extension if the government does not determine that a country no longer qualifies, with longer extensions possible. A termination generally cannot take effect earlier than 60 days after its notice is published in the Federal Register. Those provisions make a scheduled expiration date different from an immediately effective termination.
The financial stakes were evident in September interviews with Salvadoran beneficiaries. Lorena Zepeza told ABC7 that her family owned a home and depended on continued employment to pay expenses, including her daughter's university education. "What's going to happen with the mortgage?" she asked.
A July analysis published by FWD.us estimated that 152,000 Salvadoran TPS holders were employed nationwide, including 36,000 in construction and 32,000 in building and grounds work. The analysis, based on augmented census survey data, estimated that more than 150,000 U.S.-citizen children depended on a Salvadoran TPS parent's workforce contributions.
The three countries reached this point through different humanitarian emergencies. El Salvador's current designation followed devastating earthquakes in 2001. Ukraine received TPS in 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion. DHS's January 2025 extensions for Ukraine and Sudan cited armed conflict and extraordinary conditions preventing safe returns and set Oct. 19, 2026, as their end date.
Sudanese advocates had sought a longer commitment before that deadline. In August, 44 organizations led by African Communities Together requested an 18-month extension and redesignation, citing the country's war and humanitarian crisis. Continuing existing beneficiaries' protection does not itself announce the broader redesignation those organizations requested. timep.org
The uncertainty comes after a substantial contraction of the program. A Sept. 10 Congressional Research Service report said the Trump administration had terminated TPS designations for 13 of the 17 countries covered when he returned to office. El Salvador, Ukraine, Sudan and Lebanon remained designated at that report's publication.
For Salvadorans who have spent decades in the United States, the wait reaches into established families. Doris Landaverde, a Salvadoran TPS holder and mother of two U.S.-born daughters, told The Associated Press that her children's housing and health care depended on her earnings. "Facing this uncertainty is frustrating and painful," she said.
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