DHS says Ukrainian, Sudanese migrants retain protection as TPS expires

Administration already ended TPS for more than 1 million from 13 countries

The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that more than 100,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan can remain in the United States without immediate risk of deportation, after their temporary protected status was set to expire that day. In a written statement, the department said Ukrainians and Sudanese covered by the temporary measures “retain protection” and that an announcement “will be made at the appropriate time.” It did not say how long the protections would last or when a final announcement would come.

The DHS did not respond to a question about whether those affected can keep their work permits, but TPS generally allows people to work while their protections remain in effect.

The announcement is the latest instance in which the Trump administration, which has previously sought to end these temporary protections, has allowed people covered by the status to remain in the country without guidance on how long they can stay.

Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid in Ukraine and helps resettle newcomers in the United States, described the government’s announcement as “last-minute patches.” He called it a “bandage that has been placed on a wound that does not solve the real issue” and said, “It’s time for US to come up with some normal path to permanent residency for all these people.” Boyechko said those affected cannot safely return to Ukraine.

Andrew Arthur, a national-security and immigration expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors lower immigration, said the government will eventually decide the question but faces no deadline. Until then, he said, nothing changes. “It’s simply going to be an extension until it is a termination,” Arthur said. “It’s beyond cavil that both Sudan and Ukraine are experiencing ongoing armed conflict, and therefore the secretary is well within his authority to continue TPS for each of them.”

The Trump administration has already terminated TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria. In a change in practice about a month ago, the administration kept protections in place for nearly 200,000 people from El Salvador whose TPS was set to expire on September 9. In that case, the administration also said it would make a decision at the appropriate time and that, in the meantime, people from El Salvador could continue to work and live in the US.

Activists and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have raised alarms over the approaching deadline for Ukrainian TPS, arguing that conditions remain unsafe for them to return home amid the war with Russia. Ukraine was first designated for TPS in April 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion two months earlier. The Biden administration subsequently extended the designation, most recently in January 2025, when the DHS authorized an additional 18 months of protection through October 2026. The TPS program for Sudan was established in 1997, and successive US administrations have extended it because of the armed conflict and political instability that have plagued the African nation.

Monday’s decision comes two weeks before the midterm elections, when Trump’s hard line immigration policies will face a test at the ballot box.