DHS Sets a Deadline for Work Permits of Immigrants with Temporary Status

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday that work permits for hundreds of thousands of immigrants will expire on July 10. These immigrants are part of a program called Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. The announcement came after the Supreme Court ruled last week that the government could end TPS protections for people from Haiti and Syria. The decision affects people from seven countries who have been living and working legally in the United States.

TPS is a program that lets people from certain countries stay in the United States safely when their home countries are going through wars, natural disasters, or other dangerous conditions. It protects people from being deported, which means being forced to leave the country. It also gives them permission to work legally. However, TPS does not lead to a green card or citizenship. People must apply during a specific time period and pass background checks to qualify.

The Trump administration wants to end TPS for people from many countries. Officials say that conditions in those countries have gotten better, so people can safely return home. So far, the administration has tried to end TPS for people from at least 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Somalia, and Myanmar. Only Lebanon has seen its TPS extended under the current administration.

Last week, the Supreme Court voted 6 to 3 in a case called Mullin v. Doe. The six conservative justices sided with the government, saying that lower courts did not have the authority to block the administration's decisions about TPS. This cleared the way for DHS to end protections for about 350,000 Haitians and around 6,000 Syrians. Many people who follow immigration law expected this ruling to affect all 1.3 million TPS holders from 17 countries.

The July 10 deadline affects immigrants from Haiti, Syria, Burma, Yemen, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Somalia. That gives TPS holders and their employers very little time to prepare. Many of these workers have jobs in important fields like health care and hospitality. Lawmakers and businesses warned that losing these workers so quickly could cause serious problems for communities across the country.

Some politicians spoke out against the ruling. Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, said he strongly disagreed with ending Haitian TPS at this time. He pointed out that many Haitian TPS holders work in hospitals and nursing homes. He warned that ending their status could create a crisis in health care and asked the administration to give workers more time to transition before the deadline.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani also criticized the decision, saying TPS holders have worked as health care workers, teachers, and community organizers in New York City. Former DHS official Adam Klein, who once helped run the TPS program, said many people believed the program would give home countries time to improve so people could return when it was truly safe — not just because officials decided enough time had passed. He also noted that Congress was expected to eventually pass laws to help long-term TPS holders build a more permanent life in the U.S., but it never did.