Homeland Security lets more than 100,000 Ukrainians and Sudanese keep their deportation protection, without saying for how long

The deadline arrived on Monday, and instead of an ending, more than 100,000 people got a sentence with no date in it.

Temporary Protected Status was set to end on October 19 for about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese living in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security said that an announcement “will be made at the appropriate time,” and that until then, Ukrainians and Sudanese covered by the programme “retain protection.” The department did not say how long they can stay or when a final decision will come. It did not answer a question about work permits, though TPS generally allows people to work while their protections remain in effect.

TPS, created by Congress in 1990, shields people from countries in armed conflict or disaster from deportation and lets them work legally. Ukraine was designated in 2022 after Russia’s full scale invasion, and the Biden administration extended the designation through October 2026. Sudanese nationals have held versions of the protection since the late 1990s. The Trump administration has terminated TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria, arguing the programme had become a form of de facto amnesty. But in the past two months it has twice let a deadline pass without ending a designation: last month it kept protections in place for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans whose status was due to expire on September 9, using the same formula of a decision at the appropriate time.

For the people inside the number, the uncertainty is the policy. Yuriy Boyechko, chief executive of Hope for Ukraine, a nonprofit that aids Ukraine and helps resettle newcomers, called the announcements “last-minute patches.” It is “a bandage that has been placed on a wound that does not solve the real issue,” he said. “It’s time for US to come up with some normal path to permanent residency for all these people.” He said they cannot safely return to Ukraine. The Washington Post reported that Ukrainian officials expect TPS for Ukrainians to be extended for another six months. “Based on our current understanding, TPS for Ukrainians is expected to be extended for an additional six months beyond October,” embassy spokeswoman Halyna Yusypiuk said. The department has not confirmed a six month extension, as of October 20. The next deadline on the calendar is Lebanon’s, whose TPS designation expires on November 27 unless the administration acts again.