The Biden administration has announced a renewed deportation amnesty for Ukrainians who have reached the U.S., giving nearly 200,000 people 18 more months of tentative legal status and work authorization.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the ongoing war with Russia has created a humanitarian crisis that Ukrainians shouldn’t be forced to return to.
So he flexed his powers to grant them what’s known as Temporary Protected Status.
“We will continue to offer our support to Ukrainian nationals through this temporary form of humanitarian relief,” he said in an announcement Friday.
The Biden administration had previously announced TPS status at the start of the war in early 2022, and some 26,000 Ukrainians came forward to take advantage. They will be given a chance to renew their status for another 18 months.
But since that last announcement, another 166,700 Ukrainians have made their way into the U.S. — some legally and others illegally — and they now have a chance to apply, too.
TPS grants a stay of deportation and brings some legal benefits such as a work permit, a Social Security number and some taxpayer benefits.
It is supposed to be a temporary grant of status, used in cases when a home country can’t handle the return of its people because of natural disaster, war, disease or unrest. The status is only supposed to be a last resort until conditions improve.
But often TPS becomes a permanent amnesty.
Some migrants from Central America have been living in the U.S. under TPS for more than two decades after receiving the status because of natural disasters that occurred around the turn of the century.
Congressional Democrats argue that Central Americans should be allowed to stay permanently and have introduced legislation to make their amnesty permanent.
The Biden administration has been particularly generous with TPS, using it as a safety valve for a large number of illegal immigrants.
More than 600,000 people are currently living in the U.S. under TPS, according to data compiled last month by the Congressional Research Service.
That’s nearly double the number in early 2021, just after President Biden took office.
Immigrant rights activists cheered Friday’s move on Ukraine.
“Protecting these families is an important show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people – one that reinforces our nation’s commitment to global humanitarian leadership,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.