“Weather Events” Among the Reasons Nearly a Million Illegal Aliens Get Humanitarian Amnesty

Besides letting a record number of illegal immigrants, terrorists and violent gangbangers into the United States through the Mexican border, the Biden administration has delivered a parting gift of shielding nearly a million foreign nationals from deportation with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The provisional amnesty is a humanitarian measure designed to shield undocumented aliens from deportation during emergencies. It is supposed to be a short-term solution for foreigners that do not quality as refugees but cannot immediately return home because of difficulties caused by factors such as violence, natural disasters, or political and economic instability. TPS, which is typically granted in 18-month increments, not only protects migrants from deportation it also allows them to work in the U.S.

The moment he got elected president, Biden worked to broaden the TPS program adding several countries and extending protections that should have expired for those already on the list. More than 2.1 million illegal aliens from 17 countries—including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Myanmar, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Honduras, Ukraine, Somalia and Haiti—benefit from TPS. Most have lived in the U.S. for decades and have settled in every state with California, Florida, New York and Texas seeing the largest numbers. The humanitarian relief was approved by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 and gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary the authority to designate a country for TPS to offer safe haven to foreign nationals who do not qualify for asylum but claim to be fleeing a potentially dangerous situation back home. The government is required to announce 60 days before any TPS designation expires whether it will be extended. If it does not the TPS automatically extends for six months.

In a single day this month beleaguered DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the extension of TPS for almost a million foreigners from four countries—El Salvador, Venezuela, Sudan and Ukraine. Venezuela, the south American nation importing the deadly Tren de Aragua criminal gang that has battered American cities with gruesome crimes, is receiving the largest TPS protection with 600,000 beneficiaries through October 2, 2026. The 18-month extension is due to extraordinary and temporary conditions that prevent eligible Venezuelan nationals from safely returning home, according to DHS. “After reviewing the country conditions in Venezuela and consulting with interagency partners, it was determined that an 18-month TPS extension is warranted based on the severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crises under the inhumane Maduro regime,” the announcement reads. “These conditions have contributed to high levels of crime and violence, impacting access to food, medicine, healthcare, water, electricity, and fuel.”

Around 232,000 migrants from El Salvador will be shielded from removal under the administration’s new TPS extension, which was granted over “environmental disasters.” In that announcement the government writes that “El Salvador’s extension of TPS is based on geological and weather events, including significant storms and heavy rainfall in 2023 and 2024, that continue to affect areas heavily impacted by the earthquakes in 2001.” The central American country’s first TPS was issued after a major earthquake in 2001. Around 103,700 illegal aliens from Ukraine will also get TPS “due to ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Ukraine that prevent eligible Ukrainian nationals from safely returning.” Approximately 1,900 migrants from Sudan will be shielded from deportation for the same reason— ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions—as well as political instability that has triggered human rights abuses. “Militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies,” the DHS writes in the TPS announcement issued this month.

The Obama administration also went crazy with TPS, renewing it for tens of thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans more than a decade and a half after a hurricane hit the Central American nations, prolonging it for Africans two years after originally issuing it due to Ebola, and repeatedly restoring it for tens of thousands of Haitians years after an earthquake struck the impoverished island. During its two terms the Obama administration never missed an opportunity to offer illegal immigrants reprieve, using inclement weather in the U.S., a virus, natural disasters and tainted water in an American city to extend the perk.