I have posted on TPS a number of times, a mechanism for temporary authorization which the Biden administration used extensively.  Here are excerpts from a nice overview by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is a Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. TPS beneficiaries may be the most vulnerable large population of persons with temporary legal authorization to reside in the U.S. Virtually all the below is taken verbatim his posting on Immigration Daily.

As of today, persons from 16 countries are covered by TPS, up from 1 in 1990. There are 13 TPS designations set to expire in 2025 without further action by the DHS secretary, and four will expire in 2026.

TPS is a legal protection created in the Immigration Act of 1990 as a response to the then-ongoing civil war in El Salvador. After reports emerged of extensive human rights abuses inside El Salvador and the torture and execution of people deported from the United States, Congressman Joe Moakley of Massachusetts first introduced legislation in 1983 to establish a legal authority to halt deportations to countries undergoing serious humanitarian crises. These efforts eventually led to the creation of TPS in 1990, and El Salvador became the first country designated under the authority.

Under TPS, the DHS Secretary is authorized to temporarily protect from deportation any individual who comes from a country which is facing an ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or any “extraordinary and temporary conditions.” DHS can designate a country for 6, 12, or 18 months of TPS at a time, but not longer. If DHS grants TPS to a specific country, individuals from that country who are here in the U.S. as of the date of the designation may apply for TPS. People can apply for TPS if they are undocumented, or if they have another form of immigration status.

If approved for TPS, individuals are eligible to work legally in the country for as long as their grant of TPS lasts. They are also protected from deportation during that period, unless they commit an offense which violates the terms of TPS.

As of May 31, 2024, the most recent date for which data is available, 16 different countries were designated for TPS. For most of those countries, few people hold the status. Combined, fewer than 35,000 people from Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen held TPS status as of that date. Five countries made up the largest TPS population, with roughly 50,000 TPS beneficiaries from Ukraine, 54,000 from Honduras, 180,000 from El Salvador, 200,000 from Haiti, and 344,000 from Venezuela as of that date. These number are likely higher today following redesignations of TPS for Haiti, Yemen, and Somalia in July 2024, which combined is expected to lead to as many as 320,000 new TPS beneficiaries.

[PFR this means that in total about 1.2 million persons are or shortly will be covered by TPS. At the start of the Biden administration, my guess is that only about 200,000 persons were covered.]

Before the 6, 12, or 18 month-period of TPS expires, the DHS secretary generally has to make a decision; whether to extend the previous designation or let it expire. The secretary can also “redesignate” TPS, which would allow people who entered the country after the first designation date to become eligible to apply for TPS.

Since 1990, 12 TPS designations have been allowed to expire in total, for the countries of Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Montserrat, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.

In 2025, the new administration will have only a few months in which to decide the fate of thousands of TPS-holders. TPS for El Salvador expires in March 2025, while TPS for Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela expire in April 2025. An additional six countries will lose TPS between May 2025 and July 2025 if not renewed or redesignated.

TPS provides no independent mechanism for beneficiaries to obtain permanent legal status. That means some individuals may remain here on TPS for years without ever finding a way to acquire lawful permanent resident status.

Given the extensive contributions of people with TPS to the United States and the economy, many people have called for a path to permanent legal status for those who have had TPS for a lengthy period, including over 180,000 Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries who have had the status for over 20 years. Without Congress acting, these individuals will be forced to live their lives in an 18-month limbo at a time, having paid thousands of dollars in application fees over the years and passed numerous backgrounds checks.