DHS keeps Salvadoran TPS in effect until further notice

About 200,000 holders retain protection and work authorization

The Department of Homeland Security said Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans will remain in effect until further notice rather than expire Wednesday. The announcement means approximately 200,000 Salvadorans living in the United States will remain protected until the government issues a final decision.

A notation on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services page said, “An announcement on El Salvador’s TPS will be made at the appropriate time. Until such announcement is made, Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection including work authorization.”

Salvadorans covered by TPS face several possible scenarios as they await the Department of Homeland Security’s final decision. The program can legally extend automatically for six months if the Homeland Security secretary does not make an official decision or publish a notice of extension or termination in the Federal Register at least 60 days before the program expires.

The George W. Bush administration granted TPS to Salvadorans in 2001 after two earthquakes struck El Salvador on Jan. 13 and Feb. 13 of that year. The program has remained in place since then.

The announcement differs from the administration’s broader record on TPS. Since January 2025, the Trump administration has ended or begun the process of terminating TPS for 13 countries, affecting an estimated more than 1 million people, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

UPI described the Salvadoran case as an exception and reported that the relationship between Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and President Donald Trump appears to set El Salvador apart.

Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar and an advocate of ending TPS, said Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will decide what lies ahead.

“If it expires, the final decision rests with the secretary,” Homan said when asked about TPS. “Temporary protected status means temporary. Let’s be realistic. El Salvador is a much safer country than ever now that there is a new president,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

Bukele has accepted deportees from the United States and housed them at the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, El Salvador’s maximum-security megaprison.