The government presided over by Joe Biden extended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for another 18 months, which protects nearly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants from deportation and allows them to work in the country, but will not extend this program to shield to those who arrived after its launch in March 2021.
The renewal of TPS, which expires this Monday, will take effect on September 10, 2022 and will last until March 10, 2024 (18 months).
It will benefit Venezuelans who were already residing in the country as of March 8, 2021 (according to official calculations, 343,000).
"This is one of the many ways in which the Biden Administration provides humanitarian support to Venezuelans inside and outside their country, together with its regional allies," Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
Migrants, many from Central America and Venezuela, walk along the Huehuetan highway in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, early Tuesday, June 7, 2022. Marco Ugarte / AP
But the government did not expand the program, as many migrant advocates called for, to include the estimated 250,000 Venezuelans who have arrived irregularly in the country afterwards.
[The Biden Administration paves the way for the legality of migrants with TPS]
White House officials had expressed concern that extending and expanding TPS could fuel the exodus to the southern border and spark new criticism from Republicans over immigration policy, according to the Politico news website.
The federal government indicated that the Federal Register will provide instructions in the short term to re-register for TPS and request the renewal of the Employment Authorization Document.
