Vox reports:

President-elect Donald Trump has long sought to end deportation protections for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program that has significantly expanded under the Biden administration to cover over 860,000 people. He has shown no sign of relenting in a second term — and may try to either revoke those protections or let them expire soon after being sworn in.

TPS allows people to temporarily live and work in the US and is currently granted to citizens of at least 16 countries suffering from natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary circumstances. The secretary of homeland security can grant TPS to each country for a renewable period of up to 18 months. Some countries’ TPS status is set to expire soon, including El Salvador’s, which expires in March.

Directing his homeland security secretary not to renew TPS for these countries could allow Trump to start reducing the population of TPS holders. Ending TPS, which has provided a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of immigrants for decades, would reshape families and communities across the US. It would also harm local economies and industries that rely on TPS recipients’ labor. [Continue reading…]