The Obama administration said Tuesday it will allow foreign nationals from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa to stay in the U.S. for another six months, even though global health officials said the outbreak that killed 11,000 people abroad is officially over.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he will extend temporary protected status (TPS) to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea through Nov. 21, instead of allowing it to lapse in late May.
Homeland Security can designate a nation for TPS if natural disasters, war or other adverse conditions prevent that country’s nationals from returning safely to their homeland.
Under the policy, nationals from the designated countries can get tentative legal status, work permits, and access to some benefits and tax credits.
Homeland Security first designated Ebola-affected nations for protected status in November 2014, at the height of the outbreak that devastated the region from December 2013 to late 2015.
The World Health Organization last week said the region is officially Ebola-free once again, after a mid-January flareup in Sierra Leone spoiled West Africa’s efforts to stamp out the two-year outbreak.
Health officials clear a country if 42 days, or two of Ebola’s 21-day incubation periods, pass since the last known patient tests negative for the virus.
Mr. Johnson said Tuesday that despite significant improvement in the region, “the lingering effects of the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak and continued recovery challenges support this six-month extension” of TPS.
His agency, however, said last month it would no longer screen travelers for Ebola, now that West Africa is considered to be free of the virus.
During the prior 16 months, Homeland Security’s Customers and Border Protection officers screened more than 42,000 travelers to the U.S. from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea who were filtered through five major international airports.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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