“Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) is a legal fig leaf invented by Congress in 1990 that allows the secretary of Homeland Security to exempt nationals of a designated country under certain conditions from having to go back there.  It hit the headlines because DHS secretary Kristi Noem on February 20 rescinded the Biden administration’s latest extension of TPS for Haitians.  In 2024, Alejandro Mayorkas authorized nationals of that country to stay in the United States a further 18 months, until February 2026.  Earlier in February, Noem canceled TPS for Venezuelans.

Haitians have enjoyed Temporary Protected Status in the United States for almost 14 years.  They’re not the record-holders.  Somalis are, having had TPS since 1991.  Being president is a more temporary status than being a Somali TPS holder: six presidents have come and gone since Somalis were first given permission to remain “temporarily” in the United States.

TPS is authorized when the situation in a person’s country of origin is so unstable as to endanger people going back there.  Legal criteria of dangerous instability can include armed conflict (e.g., a coup where military rule is ongoing or a civil war has broken out), environmental disaster (e.g., an earthquake), an epidemic, or “other extraordinary and temporary conditions.”  TPS holders receive permission to work in the United States.  They can also travel abroad and come back to America.  Under immigration law, people who have a temporary status to remain in the United States usually cannot leave without losing that status.  TPS holders can also be granted permission to visit third countries (just not........

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