DHS Extends ‘Temporary’ Amnesty for 300K Foreign Nationals

President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is extending a temporary amnesty status for more than 300,000 foreign nationals, a notice from the agency states.

In an announcement on Thursday, Nielsen said DHS would not only continue to comply with a preliminary injunction from last year — in which a federal judge in California blocked Trump’s rescinding of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) — but that the agency would be extending TPS for hundreds of thousands of nationals of Sudan, Haiti, Nicaragua, and El Salvador through January 2020.

Sudanese nationals have had their TPS extended since 1997, while Nicaraguans have enjoyed TPS since 1998. Likewise, El Salvador’s nationals have had TPS since about 2001, and Haitians have had their TPS renewed since about 2010.

Trump sought to end TPS for the more than 300,000 foreign resident population in the U.S., prompting a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Now, though, Nielsen’s decision to extend TPS will allow the foreign nationals to stay in the country until at least January 2020, a reversal of the administration’s initial plan.

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