The Department of Homeland Security is canceling temporary protected status for Syrian migrants in the US, adding to the Trump administration’s expanding terminations of deportation relief.
“Syrian nationals have 60 days to voluntarily depart the United States and return home,” the agency said in a Friday announcement.
The TPS program allows immigrants from designated countries to stay in the US for up to 18 months with legal employment authorization when conditions like armed conflict or natural disaster prevent a safe return. The Trump administration has already nixed TPS for migrants from countries like Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—and is defending multiple court challenges over the terminations.
About 3,750 Syrian nationals had TPS as of September 2024, according to non-profit advocacy group the National Immigration Forum.
“Conditions in Syria no longer prevent their nationals from returning home,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Syria has been a hotbed of terrorism and extremism for nearly two decades, and it is contrary to our national interest to allow Syrians to remain in our country. TPS is meant to be temporary.”
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