Trump government suspends deportation of 100,000 Ukrainians and Sudanese

Mthere are 100,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan who can remain in the United States without immediate risk of deportation, today the Department of Internal Security (DHS) has advanced on the same day that the right of residence would expire.

The temporary protection status (TPS), today ended for about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese.

In a statement, the DHS explained that it will make an official announcement “at the right time” and that until then the Ukrainians and Sudanese in the USA covered by these temporary measures “keep protection”.

The body has not specified how long they can stay in the country or when a final announcement will be made about their situation.

DHS has not confirmed whether these persons will be able to maintain their work permits, but TPS generally allows beneficiaries to work while protection is in place.

Today's decision marks another episode in which the administration led by Donald Trump, who previously sought to end these temporary protections against deportation and send people back to their countries of origin, allows the beneficiaries of temporary status to remain in the country, without, however, offering any guidance on the duration of this stay.

Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, a non-profit organization that provides humanitarian aid in Ukraine and assists in the relocation of newcomers in the US, described the government’s announcement as a “last-minute solution.”.

It’s like “putting a bandage on a wound without solving the real problem,” he warned.

The Trump government has already finished the TPS to over 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria.

However, in a change of practice about a month ago, the executive maintained protections for almost 200,000 Salvadorans whose TPS was about to expire on September 9.

At that time, the authorities informed that they would make a decision at the right time and that until then the citizens of El Salvador could continue to live and work in the USA.

Activists and a bipartisan group of congressmen have warned of the next end of the TPS for the Ukrainians, arguing that conditions continue to be unsafe for their return to the country of origin in the middle of war against Russia.

Ukraine was included in the TPS programme for the first time in April 2022, following Russia's large-scale invasion two months earlier.

Biden's government extended this assignment later, the last time in January 2025, when the DHS authorized another 18 months of protection, extending it until October 2026.

The TPS programme for Sudan was created in 1997 and since then the successive US governments have prolonged it due to the armed conflict and political instability that plague the African nation.

The decision announced today appears two weeks before the mid-term elections of November 3, when Trump's immigration policies will be subject to the verdict of the polls.

The US Congress created the TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries facing natural disasters or internal conflicts.

The status allows persons already in the country to remain and work for renewable periods if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that conditions in the country of origin are not safe for return.

However, the programme does not offer a path to permanent residence.